Passion if there be no greater Friendship than to expose his Life for his Friends You ought to love me above all Creatures for I suffer'd Death upon your account You are my Dove by the Communication of my Spirit if the simplicity of that little Creature which has been to me a Symbol in my Baptism and a Faithful Messenger to the good man Noah in the Deluge giving you to understand that I had no Gaul in my heart against you though you deserv'd I should have reserv'd some to Chastise you for all your Abominations and Crimes you may learn further by her Example to live so in this World that you never wet the foot of your Affections nor loiter as the Crow did to feed on dead Carcasses but to be always in a readiness to return to me when I shall open unto you the window of my heart a Mystical Ark pierc'd with a Lance for your Love You are my Immaculate by the use of the Holy Sacraments that my Flesh and Blood which is to you Food and refreshment in the Eucharist be not a bit to poison you as another Judas by the indisposition of your ill prepar'd and ill affected Conscience but rather a Sweet Nector to increase and fortify the Life of your Soul and perfume all her Faculties with the delicate scent of Piety that I may take pleasure to reside constantly in your heart Dixit insipiens in corde suo non est Deus Psal 13. v. 1. This second invention of Love prevails but very little or rather nothing at all with Christians and why so Nam ita superè peccat inverecundè ne si non esset Dâ—us Lyran. in Psal 13. Their excuse will be Ignorance they did not know who it was that spoke The fool said in his heart it is not God that knocks It is therefore that the Soul sends her Lacquey to the door to tell that Madam is not within that he that knocks may come another time or if he has any Packet to leave it and it shall be given to Madam when she comes from her walk That Lady is the Soul the Lacquey is the Body Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum spiritus autem adversus carnem Gal. 5. v. 17. for when God calls us to infuse some good Notions into our Souls the Body is always contrary as St. Paul says to the Spirit is hard by to make opposition Let us consider I pray the malice of that excuse What is the reason that a Body gives orders to tell that he is not within when he is call'd for It is either because he is not drest and in a condition to appear or that the person that looks for him is not grateful to him or that he is Indebted to him and having not wherewithall to pay him he commands his Servants to tell that he is not within O great God be not offended with the Impudence of that bold Harlot who gives Orders to tell that she is not within when you call for her For in good earnest she is not within she is far from you her Sins have carried her away to some Foreign Region as far off as another Prodigal Child and though she had been within she wants the Robe of Charity she is in no condition to appear Her Face is made black with the Cole of her Crimes your sight would make her horrible moreover your company is nothing acceptable to her Quae enim participatio justitiae cum iniquitate c. 2 Cor. 6. v. 14. for betwixt Light and Darkness there is no Communication Belial and Jesus never lodge under the same Roof but what troubles her mind most is that she is your Debtor and accountable to you for so great a number of Graces that she has not wherewithal to make you the least satisfaction an excuse without ground apology without any reason Ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis Psal 104. v. 4. Let it be so as you will have it that she is far from her God Is it not God that gathers together the scattered Sheep and leaves Ninety Nine in Heaven to look for one that is lost on Earth If she be naked and without the Ornaments of Charity is it not Jesus that cloaths them without any other cost charge or trouble only to be willing to receive them But she has not wherewithal to make satisfaction let her not trouble her mind with any and if she had she cannot of her self merit the least degree of Grace in the rigour of Justice whilst she is under the Law of sin It is enough that the precious Blood of Jesus is of an Infinite value to make all those excuses frivolous and never to be admitted of The third invention of Love that Jesus imploys in our search is to set before our eys the labours he undergoes upon this account as a loving Father to his Children though debauch'd out of all measure after the respect and authority of a Father could not prevail with them no more than his sweet alluring words and his threatnings he comes at last with a sad countenance the tears in his eyes and fetches a languishing sigh from the bottom of his Heart Ungrateful will you always continue the subject of my Afflictions At the age that I am in I should by course take my rest Yet it is Then that I see my self engaged in a thousand troubles and all this upon your account I deprive my self of all contentments for to advance your Fortune I expose my life to many hazards for to preserve yours if you have not the good nature to requite my affections at least have compassion of my Labour and Toyl God does the same Aperi mihi quia caput meum plenum est rore c. Cant. 5. v. 2. as you may see in many places of Scripture My hair says he is all wet with the dew and therefore opens the door to let me in A Man who has travelled all night upon some earnest occasion will come to the door of a Lodging two hours before day in the morning he appears there all in a Fog and dung-wet the first that meets with him is moved with compassion Oh! Poor Traveller I see you are sadly wet and how says he could I avoid it Here I have stood these two long hours under all this Rain knocking at the door and as yet I see no body come to let me in Servire me fecisti in peccatis tuis c. Isa 43. v. 24. It 's so with the Saviour of the Word I ran says he all night in Post hast to meet with a Soul at her up-rising I went through thick and thin Frost and Snow in a Cold Windy Rainy Season I arrived early before the break of day at her door I knock'd I call'd and recall'd I knock'd again and again but no body appeared and here I am wet and weary and have nothing for all my Labour But here I discover another Mystery
times in the distribution of them but he without ever giving over and at all moments he labours for to convert him will not say with the Prophet for my part I will adhere to God he is my only Good he is my Hope he is all my Expectations Mihi adhaerete Deo bonum est I will bind my self fast to Jesus even as the Companions of Vlisses to the main Mast of their Ship being that from Him and out of his favour all is subject to Inconstancy The Miermaids of the World will labour in vain to tell me of their Charms and Plasures they shall never be able to make any impression on my Heart because I shall live in assurance whilst I shall keep close to Jesus CHAP. XXVIII That Jesus is the only Friend who Comforts on occasion SAdness and Joy Tristitiam longe repelle à te c. Eccl. 30. v. 24. Animus gaudens aetatem floridam facit Spiritus tristis exsiccat ossa Proverb 17. v. 22. Letitiae magnus rarus tardus est pulsus laetis enim diffunditur per universum corpus calor ac plus foras motus ejus effertur ut tristibus intro tristitiae parvus languidus tardus rarus est nam cum tristitia ipsa refrigeret caloremque intro cencitet merito contrarios superioribus efficit qui laetitiam sequuntur Galen l. 3. de causis pulsuum Consolation and Heaviness Motion and Rest Trouble and Peace follow one another step by step and there where one takes place the other must of necessity withdraw They are the Poles of Humane Nature on which of necessity all our Actions must roul if Joy takes on her self to clear our Horrison Sadness must withdraw to seek for a residence in the Antipodes They are contrary signes which never lodge in one House They are different in Nature as they are unequal in their very Effects Joy dilates the Heart Heaviness makes it narrow Joy sets the Soul at rest Heaviness drives her into trouble Joy clears the Senses and brings a calm over all our little World Heaviness brings nothing but Confusion and where ever it happens to be all is subject to Storms It 's a wonder to see those two contraries give one another a thousand Battles and Man to remain always the Object either of their loss or of their victories Doubtless it must be an Order establish'd by God for such constant motions cannot remain invariable but under the Laws of a never-changing Principle If Consolation be a good and Sadness an evil one must be under the Genius of good and the other under the Genius of evil And so as a Fountain which from its Source spouts out pure clean and Chrystaline Waters discharges it self into its leading-pipes with the self-same purity to the very last drop And contrariwise if they be dirty black and muddy waters they will conserve still the same qualities the same will happen to be true in the principles of Consolation and Heaviness Deus totius consolationis qui consolatur nos c. 2 Cor. c. 1. v. 2. God is the first Source and Sovereign principle of all Consolations Joy consider'd in that Source is Pure Neat and without any mixture of contradiction whoever will fain draw the Waters of a true Contentment it 's to that Fountain that he must approach But they may tell me if God be the Principle of Consolation and that by the attribute of his Immensity he is present in all Places why does not that Source so dilated over all the corners of the Earth Idem hoc Propheta dixit in afflictione dilatasti cor meum non dixit non passus es me incidere in afflictionem aut effecisti ut coleriter transiret afflictio sed ea manente dilatasti me hoc est multam cordis latitudinem ac relaxationem dolorum indulsisti D. Chrysost tom 4. Hom. 1 in c. 1 2. ad Cor. replenish also all Creatures with the Sweetness of its Consolations Why is man subject to so much Heaviness Why does he find so much difficulty in the exercise of Pennance God has not Created man to do all his Actions by a necessary determination as things without reason which without any choice are carried towards their Center for no other end but to find therein their rest For the Center of each thing is the natural place of its contentment the which being allotted to them by the supreme intelligence they look for it with Passion and cannot but with violence be brought from it Therefore they strive to defend their just title and rights in all and against all Free-will sets man in another Category and though it does not change the Nature of his Center it puts him nevertheless in a condition to shun it or to seek for it but with that clause that at the same instant we get over the Ecliptique Line which leads to this Center as it is from thence that all true consolation takes its off-spring so out of it we shall find our selves under the Tyranny of Heaviness and Sadness For as the Love which God bears to himself is the cause of his Eternal Consolation so he is to men the Principle whereon depends their rest Let us not then seek elsewhere for the off-springs of our Troubles and Sadness for here it is we have lost the road which leads to our Center Deus Deus meus ut quid dereliquisti me Psal 21. v. 1. Dear Reader do not alledge for to weaken these Reasons the Complaints which Jesus made agonizing on the Cross no more than his Combats in the Garden of Olives For though on the one he makes his Address to God his Father who seems to have forgotten him and that in the other all overwhelm'd with Tears his Soul perplex'd beyond measure Seperavit se divinitas quia subtraxit protectionem sed non soluit unionem Incognitus in Ps 21. he redoubles his Prayers to divert the Sentence of his Sufferings and so strives to banish Sadness to receive Consolation For answer I have to say that those very Actions of his confirm the Truth of my Thesis for they were the-Senses of passible Nature which presented their request to the Principle from whence flows all Consolation to receive what was sustracted from them for a time though reason the Superiour part of the Soul has been always united to God exempted from all those Alarms and To teach the Christian on the one part Duplix fuit Christi oratio una ex voluntate deliberata procedens talis semper fuit exaudita altera per modum affectionis ista non sempter fuit exaudita quia sensualitatem natura liter mortem abhorrentem rationi sub debat Idem v. 2. that though he be grateful to God and couch'd down in the Book of Life among the Predestinate nay assured by Divine Revelation of the eertainty of his Salvation he ought not for all that expect to live without some
Flesh usurps on the right of the Spirit In vicino versatur invidia Senec. de brev vitae NEighbourhood is never without envy says the moral Philosopher and I think him nothing seated to his advantage In hoc flexu aetatis fama Coelii haesit admetas notitia Clodiae mulieris impudicae iufoelici vicinitate Cicero pro. who has made it his choice to reside close by a bad Neighbour For there he shall always find something to be debated The Body and the Spirit the Superiour and Inferiour part of the Soul are two Neighbours that lodge Door against Door always in War always in strife M. Coelio Video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae Rom. 7. v. 23. never out of trouble The one brings down his Laws his Customs and daily Practices the other alledges his own But the Body better vers'd and more learn'd in the subtilities of Pleading gives the Spirit much to do He acts the part of a malicious Usurper who will invest himself with another mans Goods and makes it his ordinary business to conceive and produce three Acts of bad Faith by one he pulls down and destroys the Meers and Bounds which set a distinction betwixt both the Inheritances by the other he burns confounds or retains with himself all the pretensions and titles of his Neighbour that he might have nothing to shew whereby to make appear the right and justice of his possession By the third he passes all the Farms in his own name receives the Rents and duties and so of a slave oftentimes he makes himself absolute Lord and Proprietor of that which he held from another by credit and Homage Aggenus l. de Limitibus agrorum and also with an obligation of Bondage As for the first which is the taking away of Meers and Bounds it 's an Act against the common Law of Nations which prescribes unto each thing its Mark that the Lord and Master thereof may be known and that no body might encroach or trespass on his Land The collation of those Meers was so Holy and venerable among the Antients that they would accompany it with as many Ceremonies as they would their most solemn Sacrifice to their Gods the stones being gather'd into a great heap on a firm ground they would Crown them with a Cap of Flowers and cast thereon some Aromatique Ointments to Embalm the place the Trench being made deep where the Bounds being to be settled they were to kill some clean spotless Beasts which they would bury therein by quarters and be-sprinkle them with Blood freshly drawn out of their veins the Sacred Fire being put to those materials so disposed and at the greatest force of the activity of these flames when the Flesh began to boil in the Blood they would cast the stones into that deep trench so carefully made hot Frontinus lib. de limitions and this they would call Meers of Inheritance Ille homo Primitus Dei lege transgressa aliam legem repugnantem suae menti habere coepit in membris inobedientiae suae malum sensit quoniam sibi retributam dignissime inobedientiam carnis suae invenit D. Aug. to 7. l. 1. de nuptiis concupisc ad Valerium cap. 6. statim intio which no body durst take away by reason of the punishment decreed against such transgressors which was to be immediatly comdemned to the Mines The Body as a bad Neighbour after he had at that dismal day of the Garden of Eden raised up in Arms all the unruly motions of his concupiscence to provoke the Soul to the disorder of the Crime which she there committed believed he had acquired advantages great enough to entrench upon her Rights knowing very well by the experience he had of her litle courage to maintain them that he would soon get the better of her if he would undertake to intangle her in a Process he begins with the first Act of a bad Faith which is to take away and pass over the Bounds which God and Nature had put betwixt him and the Soul But what are the Meers of the Body assigned by the Decree of the great Surveyor of the Universe it 's a little bit of Earth of five or six foot in length two or three in breadth for the most corpulent An inheritance which is never better measured then by the same Body when that they do cast him into his Tomb and stretch him over all what he is worth in the World and as yet the Worms will strive for the same and pretending the prosperty to be their own they gnaw the carcass so far as to take away all form and shape belonging to a Body Morever whilst the Body is alive he is subject to all manner of slavery which can be exacted of a Vassal If the Soul as his Soveraign can absolutely command him And if she could make use of the Justice of her Power and Prerogative the Body in respcct of her would have no further credit or esteem then what we usually have for a meer Slave because that the Soul being of a Celestial off-spring she can have no bounds upon Earth her limits touch the very point of Eternity whence she derives the Antiquity of her Race and the Grandeurs of her Nobility What has happened upon that account what but that great misfortune which St. Paul will have the Corinthians to avoid Non sit schisma in corpore 1. Cor. c 11. to wit to hinder that the Body should become Schysmatique that is to say to hinder that no division should be betwixt the Members and the Head the Vassal and the Lord the Servant and the Master The Soul is the Head the Lady and the Mistress of the Body Yet by reason that the Soul cannot exercise the Acts of her power unless that she does pass over the Earth of the Body and that the Spirit cannot receive any intelligible Species unless she draws them from abroad by the favour of the sences which are the Organs of the Body Hence the Body in the continuation of the Soul passes and repasses seeintg she had need of his assistance took the occasion of a revolt and in a short time being weary of serving and getting without the Meers of his duty he reduced her to that pass to serve and wait on his unruly appetite Servitutes praediorum confundantur si idem utriusque praedii dominus esse coeperit Digest l. 8. tit 6. and to labour the Earth though she be a Princess of Heavenly Extraction And this because she knew not how to hold her own rank maintain her Rights and make the Body know how far she could extend her bounds CHAP. XXXVI The Second unjust Usurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit THe Lord and Proprietor being no more able to obtain what is his by right through the unjustice which was done unto him by destroying and taking away his Bounds the bad
doth not bear the form and resemblance of one The general redemption of mankind was compleated on the Cross and by Sufferances never expect that the Spirit of God will work upon any other example The Holy Ghost never begets Children to God but betwixt the Arms of the Cross consequently he can never beget any there but Crucify'd Children CHAP. II. That the Conversion of a Soul is a second Nativity of Jesus THe Gospel relates unto us how Nicodemus who took all the Actions of Jesus for so many Prodigies Rabbi scimus quia à Deo venisti Magister nemo enim potest facere haec signa quae tu facis nisi fuerit Deus cum eo John 3. ver 2. Nisi quis natus fuerit denuo non potest videre regnum Dei Ibid took an occasion to visit him by night Being come Master says he we know that your Mastership comes from Heaven for none could work such high wonders as you do if God had not gone along with him Whereupon our Saviour replies Verily I tell you that whoever is not Regenerated the second time shall never see the Kingdom of Heaven As if he had said in plainer terms You have seen me revive the Dead change Water into Wine Cure the Sick multiply the Bread cast Devils out of mens Bodies These and many more such Actions have daz'led your eyes and forc'd your mouth to confess ingeniously that they must be the works of Divine Power I do receive and approve of your sentiments for they are conformable to Reason But I will have you to know that there is another wonder worthy of your astonishment which is That to be sav'd you must be born the second time This poor man was altogether astonish'd Qui solam carnalem Nativitatem novit quae non potest denuo fieri ideo modum secundae quaerit Glossa Interlin ad haec verba who had no other Theology than that of his Senses and who did not as yet comprehend the secrets of Heaven falls presently on that Proposal this main difficulty How can that be done That a man must be born twice over that an Old man of threescore years with the full extention of his Body must be reduced to the form and state of a new born Child must he re-enter into his Mothers womb there to be retain'd a Prisoner the space of nine Months That must be perform'd either by Rarefaction or Condensation of Matter That in the Mother This in the Child who did ever hear speak of the like thing Some one perhaps may ask me the same Question Non mireris quia dixi oportet vos nasci denuo Spiritus ubi vult spirat Ver. 7.8 seq and seeing it in the front of this Chapter The second Nativity of Jesus may tell me that it is an impossible thing that Jesus should be born the second time For the Virgin must have been re-call'd on Earth to become his Mother once more And if for to be born twice he must die as often it would be necessary that Jesus who is once already dead and never dies any more should die the second time for to revive again which cannot be Dear Reader I have no other Answer for the clearing of your doubt Si propter haereditatem temporalis nascitur aliquis ex visceribus matris carnalis propter haeriditatem Patris Dei sempiternam nascitur peccator ex visceribus Ecclesiae D. Aug. tract 12. in John com 9. refer tur in Catena but the same which our Saviour gave to Nicodemus Verily I tell you that whoever is not regenerated by water and the Holy Ghost cannot be sav'd For even as being dead by Original sin you are regenerated by the water of Baptism so being dead by your Actual sins you are re-call'd to life by the water of your bitter Tears in the Sacrament of Pennance A Regeneration which cannot be accomplish'd before that Jesus be new born in our hearts by a new conception of Love which I call The second Nativity of Jesus which takes its Being and all its Value from the First The Relations of the one to the other are admirable For as the first Nativity of Jesus in the Sacred womb of the Virgin was by the Hypostatical Union of the Divine Person with Humane Nature to appropriate to himself all her Actions So the second Nativity of Jesus in a Soul is accomplish'd by the intimate Union of his Presence by which he becomes the most happy source and off-spring of all her Actions and renders them meritorious of Heaven And as Jesus in as much as he was man alone could not operate that great work of our Redemption Si tamen compatimur ut conglorificemur Rom. 8. v. 17. Si commortui sumus convivemus si sustinebimus conregnabimus 2 Tim. cap. 2. ver 12. Si enim complantati suâ—â—us similitudini mortis ejus Simul resurrectianis erimâ—s Rom. 6. v. 5. if by the means of that Union he had not acquir'd the Power and Dignity of it Even so it is impossible without that second Nativity of the Son of God in us to do any particular Action that might deserve Heaven To say that it is to injure and intrench upon the Rights and Prerogatives of the first Nativity to refer the consummation of particular Salvation to the necessity of a second Nativity it is to destroy the Essential Subordination of those two terms suffer and suffer with so often Preach'd by the Apostle and to have that Physick only laid on a sick mans Table should do him good without taking it In the Passion of the Son of God we have a most powerful remedy for all our distempers but its effect in us depends on the compassion as a condition without which nothing turns to our advantage The Spirit is not as yet fully inform'd of the secrets contain'd in this second Nativity And therefore I must explain more at large the manner and order observ'd in it And of what nature is that Union of the Soul with Grace which brings God to be present with Man by a stricter tye than that of the Substantial Form which gives him Life For it 's not an Union like that which brings the Sun to be present to the very bowels of the Earth by the emission of his Influences to produce therein all sorts of Mettals Neither is it an union of Authority and Pre-eminency as that of a King or Monarch who is not present in all the Provinces of his Dominions but by the Officers of his Crown No for all those presences to speak properly not being personal cannot produce such Holy and real approaches as are found in that intimate union of the Soul with God to make him appear in the full lustre of a second Nativity What then Lib. 12. de Deo trino uno c. 9. the Learned Suarez the second St. Thomas of our Age finds no comparison more proper to express the
by a certain Antithesis to let us understand the difference that is between his Divine and his Humane Filiation And that the qualities he bears grounded on the rights of his Eternal Birth on his Fathers side are different from what he has founded on the Prerogatives of his Temporal Birth on his Mothers side What a solid Answer St. Peter gives â—â—h 16.13 who being question'd by Jesus Christ What did the World think of the Son of man Answered You are Christ Son of the living God All the rest were of so shallow a judgment as to believe that some mortal man was Father to Jesus as well as to St. Iohn the Baptist and to the Prophet Elias But St. Peter who already came to understand the secrets of his Master made a publick confession and an open acknowledgment of his Divine Filiation Ah! Peter replyes Jesus My Father has discover'd unto you the Mystery and has told you that I had no Father on Earth It is true then that our Saviour has but one Heavenly Father Christus non de substantia Spiritus Sancti sed de potentia nec generatione sed jussione benedictione conceptus est D. Aug. ser 6. de temp tom 10. But on Earth he is conceiv'd of the Holy Ghost in the Sacred womb of the Virgin Mary not by way of Emanation as in the bosom of the Father For as St. Augustin subtilly remarks He does not proceed from the Substance but by the Power of the Holy Ghost not by way of Generation but by way of command and by Coelestial Benediction If we must thus speak of the Paternity of the Messias in the Incarnation of the Eternal word whom must we acknowledge to be the true Father of the second Child form'd according to the model of the first I say that neither of both has a Father on Earth and that the Holy Ghost has supply'd the Office of a Father to both For as the Angel Embassador to assure the Virgin who having banish'd from her heart all love of Worldly Creatures could not comprehend how she could be a Mother Luc. 1. v. 35. told her presently Paraclitus autem Spiritus quem mittet Pater in nomine meo ille vos docebit omnia Joan. 4. v. 26. Ego rogabo patrem alium paraclitum dabit vobis ut mâ—neat vobiscumin aeternum Spiritum veritatis ibid. v. 16. That the Holy Ghost should come upon her that the Virtue of the most high should over-shadow her and that the Holy who should be born of her should be call'd the Son of God So our Saviour before he mounted up to Heaven assur'd his Apostles who could not conceive the height of the Mysteries committed unto them That he would send the Holy Ghost who by the infusion of his Graces would come within our Hearts pouring himself into our Souls Alium paraclitum nominavit non juxta naturae differentiam sed juxta operationis diversitatem Didimus in Cathena would frame them all according to the word Incarnate to form thereof another Jesus Christ That being so may I not lawfully say that the Holy Ghost does perform the Duty and Parts of a Father to both Non enim accepistis Spiritum servitutis iterum in timore sed accepistis Spiritum adoptionis filiorum in quo clamamus Abba pater Rom. 48.1.16 This is St. Paul's Doctrine in his Epistle to the Romans where after he had said That such as suffer the operation of the Spirit of God are the Children of God set at liberty and freed from all slavish fear He Imprints in their hearts the same pretensions of Love which he had imprinted in the heart of Jesus towards the recognizance of the one and self same Father who both adopt them after the coming and their receiving the Holy Ghost an active Adoption which is particularly attributed to the Holy Ghost for though that Grace and all her appurtenances are common Goods flowing from the liberal distributions of the whole Trinity yet because Love is a property of the Holy Ghost and as the Graces which we receive from him are beams deriv'd from that love he reserves to himself those communications by right of property The same Apostle goes on to confirm the certainty of that Adoptive Filiation when he says That the Holy Ghost gives Testimony to our Spirit Ipse enim Spiritus testimonium reddit Spiritui nostro quod sumus Filii Dei Rom. 8. v. 16. that we are the Children of God I know that our Adversaries giving a sinister interpretation to this passage would fain say that this testimony gives them an assurance of Faith Qui habet testimonium salvabitur non damnabitur eccè ergo Spiritus obligans adoptans testificans of the necessity of their Salvation and that therefore their Conscience ought to be free from all fear But it is to give the Lye to St. Paul who speaking of himself in another place dares not assure himself of his Justification though his Conscience be without any remorse of Crime Nicol. Gozram in hunc locum his design was only to fortifie our hopes but still notwithstanding he will have us to work out our Salvation with fear and Trembling 1 Cor. cap. 4. For this Testimony is not of Faith nor of Infallibility but of conjecture only and of moral confidence St. Basil gives you the form of it Basil in reg Brevioribus interog 296. For some one asking him the question what certainty could we have of being the Children of God he answers That if laying our hand to our breast we can say with David I hate Iniquity I have cherish'd and always fulfill'd the Law I have prais'd my Creator seven times a day at midnight my custom is and always was to get up and confess my sins I did ever shun bad Company and had always Justice for the Rule of my Actions or else if we find that we have the three conditions quoted by St. Bernard Bern. de 4. orandi modis viz. A Spirit elevated towards Heaven a Body subject to reason and an ardent desire to advance still in Virtue If you find your self so compos'd you may lawfully conceive a moral certainty of your Salvation but never look further for an Infallible certainty which might bring you to a false Peace an enemy to your Salvation which ought to be wrought out with fear and diffidence This was St. Gregory's advice to the noble Matron Gregoria who instantly pray'd him to give her satisfaction in this point Daughter says he you tell me Rem difficilem inutilem postulasti difficilem quidem quia indignus ego sum cui revelatio fieri debeat Inutilem vero quia secura de peccatis tuis fieri non debes nisi cum jam in die vitae tuae ultimo plangere eadem peccata non vobis D. Greg. l. 6. epist ep 186. that you will not let me rest until that I
c Such as made choice of me heretofore to be their Councel and took advice of me as of their Trustee whilst all Prosperities attended my Fortune whilst Heaven and Earth were at strife to heap up my contentments and whilst I was in esteem amongst Foreign Nations have basely now forsaken me upon occasion thinking they should be grieved for my Afflictions I let them know the State of my Affairs but they made nothing of my Letters and looked upon me as a Stranger nay for fear that by perusing my Lines where I put them in mind of the Rites of Antient Friendship they should be moved to afford me some consolation Divitiae addunt amicos plurimos à paupere autem hi quos habuit separantur c. Proverb 19. v. 4 6 7. they were so ungrateful as to cast them into the fire and to have no more the memory of them I had Neighbours to whom I was never otherwise than civil I shewed them all manner of courtesie I do not believe that ever I eat a meal but I would have them called one after another to sit at my Table they had the liberty to make use of all that I had in my House as their own proper Goods God did no sooner touch me with the Rod of his Justice but loosing all remembrance of me and my former kindness Inquilini domus mea ancillae meae sicut alienum habuerunt me quasi peregrinus fui in oculis eorum Job 19. v. 15. as if I had been some abominable Man given over to the Devil they had a horrour to see me I had a great number of people that held Farms from me whom I never press'd to pay me though their Terms were expired from whom I never demanded any reparation or other satisfaction for any destruction or damage they might have done to my Tenements and Lands I had patience with them and suffer'd them to live in peace forbearing with their Poverty and expecting their own conveniency to pay my Rents But alas since I lay down on this Bed not one did appear to me nor give me the least word of consolation in the very excess of my Sorrows Servum meum vocavi non respondit ore proprio deprecabur illum Ibid. v. 16. I had Servants who esteemed themselves happy to live in my Service far from having any ground to complain of me that I kept their Wages from them for after I had paid them well I always gave them some gratification to which I was not obliged If they had a desire to withdraw themselves from my House and Service I gave them their liberty and in discharging them the means to advance and further themselves each one according to his condition Seeing that my poor body all full of Sores and Scabs took away the use of my Limbs that by great ado could I lift up my arm to bring my hand to my mouth that my Legs as stiff as a stake by reason of the gross humours which dull'd my Sinews principle of motion would not permit me to stir out of one place I would call them my self and by their proper names as flattering them that they should be the more willing to come at me to ease me of any of my pains To one I would say I pray thee Friend bring me a bit of Linnen that I may rub off the Matter and Dregs which run down from this putrified wound whose sharp and biting humours put me to a thousand pains To another Oh be graciously pleased to help me to change this posture my Back is all bruised with lying so long upon it the Bones pierce my Skin I am half dead To this Servant alas is there no means to get me a drop of fresh water I am so dry that I think my Stomach is nothing but a hot Furnace I can hardly speak my Mouth is so dry my Tongue sticks to my Pallate My God! What heart would not burst to hear the moaning and pitiful tone of a poor Creature so much afflicted Nevertheless Job must have patience his Servants will no more acknowledge him nor hear his voice Let him cry let him complain let him lament there is none now that cares for him he is but a dying Dog in their thoughts they expect no more but the last breath to cast his rotten Carcass into some Ditch This is not as yet all I had a Wife Halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea Job 19. v. 17. says he whom I loved as my self or rather more I would be very sorry to displease her in any thing whatever opposition she might have given to my designs I would captivate my self for to follow her inclinations and let her know that all my feelings were the same with hers But Alas She was to me more cruel and Inhumane than all the rest I am so much an eye-sore and a heart-breaking to her that she scorns to look once at me she would with all her heart see me a hundred foot under ground If by chance she sees any Cup which I made use of to drink in the Servants must presently put it aside out of her sight For she says that it smels of the Leprosy and that the only sight of it provokes her to a Vomit Nolite diligere mundum neque ea quae sunt in mundo non dixit nolite habere sed nolite deligere ecce concupivisti haesisti quis dabit tibi paenas ut columbae quando vâ—labis ubi requiescas quando hic ubi malè haesisti perverse requiescere voluisti nolite diligere mundum tuba divina est D. Aug. tom 1. ser 34. de veeb. Doâ— secundum Lucam if she be forced to pass sometimes hard by me she puts with all speed her handkerchief to her mouth and nose and tells me that my breath is insufferable to her I lie down stretcht on a Dunghil and she will not take the pains to have me carried to a Stable where I might be shelter'd from Rain and bad Weather she sees me and suffers me to languish in that bad Equipage What man of Judgement would ever after relie on the Friendship of this World whose consequences are so Tragical who will not seek to lodge his affections elsewhere being that among Men there is so much disloyalty and falshood You will tell me perhaps that they are exaggerations to frighten Souls And moreover that Histories are full of a number of good Friends who have been both Faithful and Friendly to their dying day Hercules and Theseus Pilades and Orestes Socrates and Choerephon Damon and Pithias Nicocles and Phocion Scipion and Pompeius Lucillius and Brutus Coesar Augustus and Maecenas It 's true but besides this that those Friendships had only for ground that weak foundation of Blood and Flesh they lasted no longer time than the moment of this present life A Christian ought to look for a Friend who is a Priend without Interest a Friend without any
Duty QUick-silver among all Mettals is of so great an Activity that there is nothing it seems can set a stop to its course Brimstone only can give it a subsistance and serve as an Hypostasis to it The Spirit of man more airy and light then any Quicksilver is always in action he comes he goes he mounts he descends nothing can stop him The thoughts of Heaven of Paradise of Virtue are not able to keep him stedfast in the presence of God Jesus is of advice to cast before him a handful of the Brimstone-ashes of Hell to the end that this heart which would not be touched with the amorous attacks of a peaceable conversion should at least be moved by the apprehension of those Chastisements which he cannot avoid if he does resist any longer the sweet violence of the Holy Ghost The Prophet-Royal will have us now and then to take a time to make a Voyage into Hell Descendant in infernum viventes Ps 54. and to descend thereinto whilst we are alive Alas It is not to give our eyes the satisfaction of seeing there handsom Greens Beautify'd with thousands of fine Flowers or Artificial Fountains which let their Waters run so ingeniously round about their Neighbourhood Those are not the appurtenances of the place whereinto we are to descend but to contemplate therein the sad Occupations of those unfortunate Souls to smell therein the ill-savoured filth of the Earth which flows thereinto as into the common-shore of all the Universe to hear those horrible Cries those dreadful Groanings those voices of Fury Madness Rage and Despair to the end by the misfortune of others we become wise and shun the Crimes which have reduced them to so Tragical an end When they are willing to pardon a Criminal and give him his Life they are satisfy'd to lead him to the Gallows that he may see the Execution of his Confederates It 's an act of a well-ordered Policy to Execute Criminals in a Publick Place and in the sight of all the World and moreover to erect patibulary Justices in the High-ways for to hang thereon those miserable Wretches It is not to add to their Punishment being that Death makes them insensible of all those after-Torments 't is but to advise the Passengers to have a care of themselves not to become the Partners of their Crimes if they will not be the Companions of their Penalties The patibulary Justices of God is Hell 't is there that a poor Father sees his Child the Wife her Husband the Brother his Sister if they be Dead in Mortal sin without exception of Rich or Poor Ignorant or Learned Subject or Lord For betwixt the Justice of God and that of Men there is this difference that Men may do against humane Laws in favour of some whose Rank and Birth-right seems to Authorise them in their Vice But God who shuts up his eyes to all humane considerations and takes nothing for the Law of his Judgments but the Essential Righteousness of his Wisdom Justifies the poorest man if he be found innocent and places him in a Throne of Glory without any regard to his Extraction Whereas he condemns the Prince and the King if he be a wicked Liver and gives him no other rank in Hell than to be the most tormented by the Devils if he has been the most vitious amongst Men. David invites us all to this Spectacle and tells us that three considerations among all others which might be produced render the thoughts of Hell most dreadful The first is the greatness of the Torments together with an extreme Rigour The second is that vast and long Eternity The last but the Principal is that Exile and irrevocable Banishment that chases the damned Souls from the presence and vision of God for ever CHAP. XLI The first consideration of Hell BEatitude is a happy aggregation and meeting of all manner of Good Beatitudine est status omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus Boet. so that if one of all had been wanting and substracted from a Saint he would not be in the possession of a compleat and absolute Felicity If that be true it must follow by the rule of contraries that the infelicity of Damned Souls is a gathering of all sorts of Pains Rigours and Punishments being that in this most unhappy State they are deprived of all manner of Good and over-whelm'd with all imaginable Evil. Aristot Ethic. cap. 32. That Man is out of his Wits says Aristotle who fears not the chastisements appointed by the Gods And because that your antient Goalers did not apprehend Thunders and Lightnings they were esteemed a stupid People and of no Religion What would they say of Christians who believe by Articles of Faith under pain of Excommunication the Rigours of so many Torments prepared for a Sinner and who nevertheless runs to them head-long and without any fear doubtless they would accuse them of madness Galenus l. 2. de locis effectus in cap. 3. Galenus against Archigene maintains that it is impossible for a Man to be sick at one time in all the parts of his Body by reason of the incompassibility of the Subject with such a form The Devils laugh at that Phylosophy having found it to be false by the experience they have made of it in the Person of Job St. Anthony's Sore otherwise called the Sacred Fire and the Vermin are contrary Diseases 1 Plaga in sanabili 2 Manus Domini tetigit me 3 Ulcere pessimo 4 Nic dimittis ut glutiam salvam meam In amaritudinibus moratur oculus meus c. yet Job had them both and calls them incurable Evils the Scab and the Leprosie the Falling Evil and the Canker the Pox and the Gout the Dissentery and the Pluerisy the Esquinancy and the Hungry Evil the Opthalmia in the Apple of the Eye the Allopecia on the Lids seem to be Diseases that never meet in one Subject yet Satan makes them to find a place in one Body All the Afflictions of Job are but a very course Painting of the Torments of Hell For if God who did not afflict this Holy Man but to prove his Constancy did set a limit to the Devils power in the Execution of his Pains what shall it be when he will give a full Authority and an absolute jurisdiction to Satan to exercise all his rage against a Damned Soul Add to this all the sufferings of the Martyrs the Pinchers of a St. Agatha the Grid-Iron of a St. Lawrence the skin fleyed of a St. Bartholomew the Wheels of a St. Catherine the Discipline of a St. Francis the Hair-cloth of St. Hillarion and all the voluntary Torments of the Inhabitants of the Desart Quare in inferno mors quaeritur non invenitur quibus in hoc saeculo vita affertur nolunt accipere in inferno quaerunt mortem non poterunt invenire c. D. Aug. to Serm. 252. de tempore All that seperated from the