the faithfull and having deposed for the Divinity of him deposeth daily for the Innocence of these For we know by Scripture that the same Spirit that spake heretofore by the Prophets hath since spoken by the Apostles and having foretold the Ages past the wonders that Jesus ought to doe revealed them to the generations to come that all men might bee fully informed of the Mysteries concerning him to whom they were beholding for their salvation This Spirit is the testimony of Jesus and of the faithfull because he hath formed them and knows all their thoughts whereof hee is the first Principle and Author This also was he that descended upon the head of the Son of God in the forme of a Dove during the ceremonies of his Baptisme 't was he that discovered to S. John Baptist his Innocence and taught him without speaking that he was that Lamb of God that was to take away the sins of the world And hee it is that daily performs the same office to Christians For having been their Master he vouchsafes to be their witnesse he speaks to the eternall Father in their behalfe having pleaded their cause he gives them assurance of their salvation The Rest that calmes the waves of their conscience is an effect of his testimony those sighes and groans he draws from the bottome of their heart those desires he inspires them with for everlasting good things those scorns he furnisheth them with for perishable ones are so many Earnests which the Elect have of his love and their salvation if there be some remainders now and then of Fear amidst their Hope 't is to preserve them from Negligence or from Pride and to make them profess that they finde in him a Divine Principle a wise Director a knowing Master and a faithful Witness The Fifth DISCOURSE That the presence of the Holy Spirit gives life to the Christian and his absence causeth his death ONe of the chiefest advantages we shall partake of in Glory is that God will be to us in stead of all things and that finding in him the accomplishment of all our desires we shall there meet with our perfect felicity He will be the Temple of the Blessed because they shall lodge in his Divine Essence He will be for a garment to them because they shall be cloathed with his light He will be their nourishment because he gives them eternal life and according to the language of S. Paul he will be All in all to these blessed inhabitants The Holy Spirit seems to have a minde to make us taste upon Earth the Happiness of Heaven inasmuch as he is all things to us in the Church that he informs us in our doubts comforts us in our afflictions assists us in our conflicts teacheth us in our prayers For Christians owe all that they are and all that they do to the holy Spirit They live by his presence act by his power understand by his light and love by his charity All their advantages flow from him If they are Saints 't is he that sanctifies them if they are free 't is he that sets them at liberty if they are generous 't is he that encourageth them and if they be wise 't is he that enlightens them In the mean time the most part of the Faithful are ungrateful to the holy Spirit Liberalitem Dei servitutem faciunt Tert. They attribute that to their own power which they derive from his and turning his grace into a slavery they would pass for the Authors of a work whereof they are at most but the Ministers Therefore will I spend this Discourse to let them see that the holy Spirit inanimates them and that as by his presence he makes them live so by his withdrawing himself he makes them die A Man and a Christian have some resemblance in their difference they live both of them by the Spirit and their life is rather spiritual then animal For though Man have a body composed of the Elements which hath need of the Air to breathe of the Earth to bear it of Food to nourish it and of Light to make it see yet is his soul the principle of his life This Form inanimates the heart giving it motion whereby all the other parts live The absence of the soul is the death of the body its presence the life and when grief or weakness separates them Man ceaseth to be a living creature Inasmuch as a Christian is more excellent then a Man by so much is his life more sublime and he hath a nobler principle of his Being For the holy Spirit is his Soul and paring off whatever defects that name may include he is the Form that inanimates the Believer Though he have an Understanding that reasoneth a Memory that preserves his conceptions and a Will free and absolute yet does he live by the holy Spirit and receive from him a supernatural life which makes him capable of God As long as he is united to this Spirit he is alive assoon as he is parted from him he is dead And 't is a miracle saith S. Augustine that the soul dead by sin does nevertheless enliven the body and that notwithstanding that imperfection Aliud est in anima unde corpus vivificatur aliud unde ipsa anima vivificatur Melius quippe anima quam corpus sed melius quam ipsa est Deus est ergo ipsa etiamsi sit insipiens injusta impia vita corporis Aug. Tract 19. in Joan. it have wherewithal still to reason in the finding out of Sciences and to manage it self in its affairs and negotiations It is true therefore that the absence of the holy Spirit greatly impaireth the vigour and clearness of Man for the life of Man as a Reasonable creature and as a Christian are so intimately united together that the one cannot be separated from the other without an extreme detriment and enfeebling of the creature The Christian merits not till he begin to reason Grace is idle in his soul when Reason is not yet formed in it and all Divines are of opinion that children baptized have no other merits but those of Jesus Christ Heaven is their Inheritance but not their Recompence they are in the condition of Heirs but not of Souldiers and the Crown they receive is rather the Consequence of their good Fortune then the Reward of their Labour Man is yet more deplorable when he loseth Grace then when the Christian loseth Reason for besides that none of his actions are any longer meritorious that he does nothing pleasing to God and having lost the Principle of his supernatural life he is destitute of all recompence and desert he hath moreover contracted this misfortune Vita infidelium peccatum est nihil est bonum sine summo bono ubi enim deest agnitio aeternae veritatis falsa virtus est etiam in optimis moribus Prosp sen 106 that he is become the slave of Concupiscence which throws Darkness over his
assistance to his creature to act with pleads no dispensation for himself from those Laws he hath prescribed nay is helpfull to his very enemies that he may not be wanting to his Word It seems that in the order of Grace he owes the same faithfulness to Christians that he is bound to assist them in all their actions and out of an obligation that no way injures his Greatness because worthy his Goodness he ought in some sort to concur with the faithful in all their operations Gratia redditur pro gratia cum Christiano propter Christi merita id quod petit conceditur Bernard For seeing they have the honour to be the Members of his Son seeing they are quickned with his Spirit and bear a glorious Character separating them from all other creatures why will he not at every moment indulge them a Grace necessary for their condition and as it were due to the dignity of their extraction I conceive this objection hath its full weight and I have set it forth in all the colours that may render it reasonable Let us see whether Truth will furnish us with Arms to batter it and whether the doctrine of Saint Augustine will warrant the Son of God from injustice when he refuseth his Grace to the Faithful To back our Answer we must suppose that the order of Nature and that of Grace are very different in the first order God seems to be in some sort responsible to his creature he never dispenseth with himselfe but by miracle when he refuseth his aid to a sinner makes the hand wither that is about to commit a Parricide or ties the tongue that was going to utter a blasphemy every one looks upon these effects as Prodigies But he owes nothing to his creature in the second order he entred not into it but by Grace nor doth he persevere in it but by Mercy In raising him to this state he is not tied to any rules what he hath once given obliges him not to continue and when he receives a sinner into his Church 't is with conditions which no ways prejudice his Soveraignty Inasmuch as he shews favour to whom he will we can plead no prescription against his Goodness he may every moment take away that succour he hath bestowed and he is so absolute in the order of Grace that when he deserts the just themselves they have no more right to complain then the guilty If they look upon themselves in Adam they are all sinners the sentence of their Condemnation preceded their Birth Vnde constat magnam esse gratiam quod plurimi liberantur quid sibi deberetur in iis qui non liberantur agnoscunt ut qui gloriantur non in suis meritis quae paria videntur esse in damnatis sed in Domino glorientur Aug. and when they were drawn out of the masse of perdition to be united to Jesus Christ 't is but for a time only if they be not written in the Book of Life in Eternal Characters This Answer is taken out of the pure Doctrine of Saint Augustine 't is founded upon his principles and he that makes a difficulty to receive it will not be a Disciple of that great Master But because it seems too severe to those that are not instructed in his School who consider not sufficiently the absolute power Divine Justice hath reserv'd to it self over the reprobate let us adde here this temperament and say that Christians have some right to Grace whilst they are united to Jesus Christ and that they may obtain it by Prayer when they find too much difficulty in good or too much engagement in evil But this Answer starts a new Objection and seems to combat the power of Grace in labouring to establish the facility of Prayer For if by the mediation of this vertue we can obtain every thing our salvation is in our own hands and we may purchase Grace by Supplication I acknowledge this Objection grounded not only upon the Principles of Saint Augustine but even upon the Principles of Religion it self For Scripture exhorts all sinners to prayer proposeth it to us as a help in all our needs Petite dabitur vobis quae rite invenietis pulsate aperietur vobis Mat. 7. and as a remedy for all our evils it seems 'tis enough to be a believer to be able to pray and that the Son of God having taught us the Lords Prayer hath furnished us with arms for our defence against the justice of his Father Saint Augustine following the steps of Jesus Christ teacheth us in a thousand places of his writings that the Law discovers vertue to us and Prayer obtains it that 't is the guard of Christians surmounting all temptations sweetning all difficulties and triumphing over Devils If then we are able to pray we are able to persevere if what is not due to our merits be granted to our prayers we may thereby obtain the Grace that is the Beginning and the End of our Salvation I confess this Objection puzzles me nor does the ordinary Answer made to it at all satisfie me For though Grace be requisite to pray though it is the Holy Spirit that puts the thoughts into our soul the affections into our heart and words into our mouthes though a prayer that is not warm'd with his heats is not acceptable to the Eternal Father we must neverthelesse confess either that Grace to pray is always offered to ns or that we have no means to make our addresses to God in our needs Therefore is it that Holy Scripture invites us every where to prayer The Son of God tels us that it offers a pleasing violence that it changeth his will sweetens his severitie and obtains all Graces it requests of him Si ergo vos cum sitis mali bona datis filiis vestris quanto magis pater vester qui in coelis est dabit bona petentibus se Mat. 7. Ne orationes putarentur praecedere merita quibus non gratuita daretur gratia sed jam nec gratia esset quia debita redderetur etiam ipsa oratio inter gratiae munera reperitur Aug. Epist ad Sixtum 105. I know indeed that Saint Paul teacheth us also that we know not how to pray as we ought unless the Holy Spirit teacheth us and that this Grace precedes our prayers as well as our good works Saint Augustine is of the same judgement when explaining that passage he saith in express tearms that to secure us from vanity which may perswade us that our prayer precedes Grace it is ranked by the Apostle among the gifts of the Spirit In this perplexity I can say nothing else but that the Grace of Prayer is more common then other graces that 't is frequently offered to Christians that God refuseth it none but those that undervalue it that 't is the principal cause of our Conversion and that if by this unhappy power which remains in us we resist not the
Salute sua sunt securi de nostra solliciti Greg. Mag. The Church Triumphant is wholly taken up with Allelujahs being freed from miseries she makes no vows but for us and she hath no other businesse but eternally to blesse him that is the Fountain of her blessednesse But the Church Militant who lives in a strange Countrey who hath as many enemies as neighbours and who is well assured that the very name she bears obliges her to combate importunes Heaven by her prayers sends up sighs to her Well-beloved and cals upon him for help by the frequency of supplications If Prayer be thus necessary 't is yet more common for the Son of God tels us that blessings cost us onely the pains to ask for them Ask and ye shall receive Saint Paul will have us use this remedy in all our distresses offering up this sacrifice in all places Volo vos orare omni loco and Saint Augustine the faithfull Interpreter of this great Apostle assures us that to pray well there is nothing required but to desire well that our intercession continues as long as our desires doe and that in keeping silence we speak to God when we addresse our wishes to him but though this remedy be so necessary and so common yet is it neverthelesse of difficult performance and to know well how to use it the holy Spirit must instruct us The Scripture whose words are Oracles conferres this Elogie upon him particularly it teacheth us that he it is that animates our prayers by his calentures that inspires us with this confidence which gives us boldnesse to call God our Father which draws tears from our eyes sighs from our hearts and with groanes that cannot be expressed whereof he is the Authour blots out our sins and comforts our miseries In a word if we beleeve the great Apostle we know not the art to pray if we have not learnt it in the School of the holy Spirit the evils that oppresse us may indeed inspire us with eloquence but not indite our prayer and whatever need we feel if Grace prevent us not we cannot obtain a remedy Self-love so blindes us that if we be led by it we shall rather beg our ruine then our salvation Man is in so profound an ignorance that he knows not what is profitable or prejudiciall to him he many times conceives designes the accomplishments whereof are sad and dismall to him and Seneca had reason to say that God was incensed when he granted our requests If the ambitious give the reins to his passion that possesses him he will never aske any thing but honours and not consulting whether Glory stain his humility all his vows will have no other aim but the increase of his Fortune If the Covetous take councell of his Interest his prayers serve onely his covetousnesse even to the injuring of his Creatour whom he will never strive to gain but that he may be the Minister of his unjust desires If the Lascivious pursue the motion of wantonnesse that tyranniseth over him perhaps he will grow insolent enough to demand of God the glutting of his brutish passion so that according to the language of the Scripture his prayer will be turned into sin and the more Petitions he puts up the more offences will he commit If a man who breathes nothing but revenge implore the aid of Heaven in that wretched condition his inclination stronger then his reason will oblige him to interesse the Son of God in his injuries and out of an impudence worthy to be punished endeavour to engage him in his quarrell who died upon the Crosse for the salvation of his enemies Finally the prayer of every sinner will be a high sacriledge and he will draw down upon his head the thunder of heaven even then when he thinks to appease its anger But when the Christian suffers himselfe to be guided by the Spirit he intreats nothing of God but what is well-pleasing to him all his conceptions are not lesse beneficiall to himselfe then glorious for Jesus Christ and as the Principle that quickens him is Divine all the Prayers that flow thence are Divine and Heavenly too The glory of God is always dearer to him then his salvation he never separates the publick good from his own private interest he prays for his Family when he petitions for the State and knowing very well that he is a living member of the mysticall body of Jesus Christ he never makes any supplications that are prejudiciall to the Church The second Advantage we draw from the assistance of the holy Spirit in Prayer is that he makes known to us the secrets to come and carrying us beyond the present time markes out all those disasters the injustice of our desires threaten us with Our ignorance is one of the chiefest causes of our misfortunes if we could read in those eternall Annals where mens adventures are imprinted we should perceive that the greatest part of our desires are more disadvantageous to us then the imprecations of our enemies we are inquisitive after the causes of our disgrace in the night of futurity we hasten our ruine by our impatience and Heaven may easily plead excuse for our mischances since they are very often the effects of our own prayers God never takes greater vengeance on us then when he grants us what we so earnestly importune him for nor is he ever more opposite to our salvation then when he shews himself most favourable to our requests our Fathers and Mothers contribute to our damnation their wishes make us miserable and we need not wonder that calamities overwhelm us seeing we live amongst the Anathema's of our nearest relations The holy Spirit happily remedies this disorder for knowing the full extent of Eternity he sees all the events that are to happen in the sequell of succeeding generations so that he never inspires us with meditations that are not profitable to us he diverts us from those wishes which are prejudiciall to our salvation he will not suffer us to ask a Curse instead of a Blessing and when he breathes in our heart or speaks by our mouth our prayers always carry their reward with them the very deniall of them is usefull and when he forbears to grant what we besought him for 't is to exercise our patience and crown our humility If he have so much respect to our interest he hath no lesse to the Glory of Jesus Christ and he so well sorts his honour and our good together that whatsoever is helpfull to us is honourable to him The greatest part of sinners intreat of God those things that are opposite to his will or unworthy of his greatnesse For whether passion transport them or ignorance blind them they require honours of him that was born in a Stable and died upon a Crosse they expect pleasures from him who spent his whole life in sorrow and whom the Scriptures by way of Excellency style a Man of Griefes they hope for riches
Sinners All his Actions testifie that he considers his Church as his Spouse and the Faithfull as his Children because he was willing to enter into their humiliations and to exalt them to his Greatnesses For though the Church be not Iesus Christ nor Iesus Christ the Church yet their union is so strict that they are two in one flesh two in one voice two in one passion and two in one rest Indeed if we examine these words well we shall find that they contain the chiefest conditions of the marriage of Iesus Christ with his Church and that they clearly explaine the priviledges which the quality of being members of the Son of God bestows upon the Faithfull They are both in one flesh because the Church is born of Iesus Christ upon the Crosse and that the Sacraments which produce and preserve her issued from the wounds of her Beloved They are two in the same flesh because in the Eucharist he nourisheth her with his Body and Blood and in that mystery tries to transform her into himself as hee was transformed into her in the Incarnation when he was made Man to become her Beloved Wherefore Saint Augustine hath very well observed Ut noveritis quia unus dicitur Christus caput corpus suum ipse dicit cum de conjugio loqueretur sunt duo in carne una ergo jam non duo sed caro una sed forte hoc dicit de quocunque conjugio Auli Paulum Ego autem dico in Christo Ecclesia fit ergo ex duobus una quaedā persona ex capite corpore ex sponso sponsa Aug. in Psal 30. that the Church was all things to Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ was all things to his Church She is his Mother because she conceived him in the womb of the Virgin she is his Daughter because she was born of his death and proceeding from his wounds honours as her Father him whom she loves as her Bridegroom she is his Sister because she fulfils the will of the Father and obtains that quality by her obedience Thus Jesus Christ and his Church are truly allied by flesh and may upon a better title then other conjugall parties say in the difference of their conditions they are but one Body They have also but one voice because they always speak together the Church is the Organ of her Beloved and Iesus Christ is the interpreter of his Church He expressed himself by her mouth before he was born upon Earth he speaks yet by her now that he is ascended up into Heaven and as their interests are inseparable their prayers are common and their language is equally entertained by the Father Thence it comes to passe that Saint Augustine unfolding this profound mystery teacheth us that the Son of God carries himself diversly towards the Faithfull according to the different qualities that separate or unite him to them He intercedes for them as their Chief Priest whose principall Office is to offer up mens prayers and to draw down blessings from Heaven upon their heads He hears their supplications with his Father to whom he is equall in Majesty he is willingly overcome by the tears of the distressed and having prayed for them as their Priest he hears them as their God Finally he prays in them as their Head he delivers the Word in the name of his Body he defends the interests of his members he pleads his own cause in pleading theirs and asks a Grace for himself in begging mercy for them Thence it comes to passe that the Father giving way to the Prayers of his Son so easily lends an ear to the Petitions of the Church because hee ownes the voice of Jesus Christ in that of his Spouse and grants that to the merits of the one which he might justly refuse to the demerits of the other He might answer us as David sometimes did that widow that made so eloquent a speech to him in behalf of Absalom Is not the hand of Joab with thee in this Loquatur Christus in nobis ut quem gerimus iu pectore babeamus in cre Cypr. For when he understands the innocent voice of his Son mingled with ours and sees that we make use of the merits and arguments of Jesus Christ to perswade him he may say to every sinner Is not the hand of Christ with thee in this Or beholding the accomplishment of that Figurative History acted heretofore in the family of Isaac where the Cadet got the blessing of his father by a mysterious surprise he might say The hands are Esau's but the voice is Jacob's because 't is true that the voice of the Son of God covers many times our bad actions and his innocent mouth obtains Graces for us in stead of punishments our guilty hands would deservedly draw down upon us Oftentimes out of an excess of love he loads himself with our sins and forgetting his Greatness appears before his Father as a Delinquent he puts on the habit of a servant takes the place of rebels and making a change advantageous for them takes their Offences and puts upon them his Merits Thence it comes to past that on the Cross where he stands the Caution of Sinners he complains that his Father forsakes though he be inseparable from him and beholding himself as the Victim of Sin useth language unworthy of his Innocence but worthy of his Love Orator ergo in forma Det orat in forma servi ibi creator hic creatus creaturam mutandam non mutatus assumens secum nos faciens unum hominem caput corpus oramus ergo ad illum per illum in illo dicimus cum illo dicit nobiscum longe à salute mea verb a delictorum Aug. praef in Ps 85. and the condition he was in This is it that S. Augustine acquaints us with in that discourse that comprebends as many Mysteries as Words If we consider Jesus Christ as equal to his Father he hears our prayers with him if we consider him in the form of a servant as like to sinenrs he presents his prayers with them there he is the Creator here he is created but remaining unchangeable is united to his Creature to change him and makes himself one man with him whereof they are joyntly the Head and Body Thus sometimes we pray to him and sometimes also we pray in him and he prays with us he speaks by our mouth we by his and living in one and the same Body we many times use the same language 'T is in the view of this Mystery that S. Augustine hath discovered a Secret to explain all those passages that seem to concern the Innocence of Jesus Christ For as by consequence of the Marriage contracted with the Church he is included in her obligations he speaks many times in the person of the Church and that we mistake not we must have this alliance always before our eyes and not be astonished that the Son of God who
Providence of God because they know his concurrence hath no lesse sweetness then force and that he ceaseth not to act winningly notwithstanding he acts absolutely They believe also God no ways injures the creature if he leave him to his infirmity because owing him nothing he may let him fall when he will and that it is mercy and not justice when he vouchsafes to uphold or lift him up Adjuvat noâ— Deus per Doctrinam revelationem suaÌ„ dum cordis nostri oculos aperit dum nobis ne praesentibus occupemur futura demoÌ„strat dum Diaboli pandit infidias dum nos mâ—liformi inoffabili dono gratiae caelestis illuminat Pelag in Aug. â—â— 1. de Gra. Christi ca. 7. Some other Divines to whom this opinion seems too severe place the power of Grace in the consent of the creature and will have that God more tender of our salvation then of his own glory presents Grace to all men and that it depends only upon their liberty to receive or reject it This assistance hath no more vertue then the law it shews the evill but cures it not it forbids sin but gives no strength to avoid it it clears the understanding but changeth not the will it solicits not this but because it illuminates that and as if men had kept all their libertie since their fall it tries to dissipate their darkness without taking the pains to break their fetters This Grace thus conceived is but a weak light because it leaves all Infidels in their Errours and a vain perswasion because it leaves so many Christians in their sins Nevertheless according to their Creed 't is sufficient to save all men provided they will and as if their liberty had not been infeebled at all by Originall sin they can make use of this Universall Grace work out their salvation with it draw themselves out of the number of the Reprobate and pass into that of Elect. It seems this Grace is not much different from that which Saint Augustine opposed when he said these words to the Pelagians If we have the power to consent why does the Apostle teach us that 't is God that works in us to will I know ye will answer he works in us by his Law in obeying which we make it efficacious and in resisting render it uselesse and unprofitable But if all be as you say you condemn all the Prayers of the Faithfull you blame the custome of the Church For seeing 't is in our power to consent when we list 't is to no purpose to pray that we may doe it and since having the knowledge of good 't is in our own power to perform it 't is in vain that Saint Paul requested Grace for the Faithfull who were already enlightned In the mean time knowing that 't is of God to prepare the will he addes Prayer to the Command having exhorted them to depart from sin he endeavours to divert them by his supplications and to obtain that for them which he had formerly taught them But as I write not so much to confute the opinion of others as to establish my own I leave every man the freedome to follow his own sense in this particular and content my self to make it appear that Saint Augustine was never of this judgement concerning Grace And indeed there are few Divines that embrace the opinion I am about to deliver it was stifled in the very Birth as Monsters are and though it flatter liberty making it the Mistress of salvation it must be sweetned to give it some credit among the Faithfull Behold therefore the temperament the new Divines have reduc'd it to thereby to give more to Grace and lesse to Free-will Neque tacenduÌ„ est Dlum pracedenter velle omnes homines salvari non enim ad puniendum nos plasmavit sed ut efficiat nos bonitatis suae participes ut bonus peccantes autem puniri vult ut justus Damas de fide They say then that God is willing to save all men that this is a design worthy his goodness who would not create men to damn them that in consideration of the merits of Jesus Christ that are infinite he offers Grace to all sinners which being well husbanded is able to procure them salvation But forasmuch as the weakness of man is great his inclination to evil powerful and his will so free that no Laws can be imposed upon it they say that God as if he distrusted his forces or would not incroach upon the Liberty accommodates himself to the inclinations of the sinner whom he means to convert that he studies his humours feels the pulse of his affections and taking the moments he judgeth most proper for the execution of his designs sets upon him when he scarce knows how to defend himself For the Graces God offers are so fitted to his spirit so agreeable to his Will so conformable to his Temperament that he accepts on this occasion what he would have refused in another Gratia congrna est qua tali tempore loco datur quo per scieutiam conditionatam Deus praevidet voluntatem hominis ei consensum praebituram quamvis potest pro naturali sua indifferentia dissentire Suarez lib. 3. de Concurs Less lib. de Grat. Efficaci These Divines describe God as a timorous Lover and the soul of man as a stately Mistresse God speaks to her by his inspirations and shee gives no ear he discovers her his Beauties and she contemns them he presents her his Favours and she mindes them not Seeing her rebellious to his will deaf to his intreaties as if he could not be obeyed without offering her violence and conveying heat into the will as well as light into the understanding he hath recourse to Stratagems he endeavours to surprise her that he cannot overcome he wins her heart by her ears nor triumphs over her liberty but by her humors or her inclinations But certainly Love never made the Almighty lose his Majesty but in the Mystery of the Incarnation when he deals with his creature he always keeps his State his being a Lover makes him not forget that he is a Soveraign and when he intends to deliver a soul from the slavery of sin he employs graces so sweet and so strong that as he no ways wrongs the liberty of his creature so neither doth he prejudice his absolute Power He knows very well that sin gives him a new right over men that he may refuse them grace without any injustice that he saves a Delinquent when he saves a Saint and that the merits of his Son being not applyed to men but according to his good pleasure take not from him the power absolutely to dispose of his subjects To give my judgement therefore of these three opinions Me thinks the first more respects the Majesty of God then the Liberty of Man prescribes Laws to him which in truth are not unjust but seems a little too severe lifts him not high
Son of God he ought to breath only after his honour to act for his service to speak for his glory and as a Criminal whom the Prince hath pardoned remains a living monument of his clemency so a Christian whom Jesus Christ hath redeemed is an inanimated picture of his mercy nor ought to have any other design then by the lustre of his actions to manifest the goodnesse of his Divine Redeemer The Second DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Priest and a Sacrifice LOve hath made the Son of God so liberal that he possesseth no qualities which he communicates not to the Christians If he be God by his Essence we are by his Grace if he be the Son of God by Nature we are by Adoption if he produce the holy Spirit from all Eternity we produce him in Time if he confer Grace in the state of his Father we confer it in his if he be Priest and Victim in his Sacrifice we partake these two qualities with him and the Church bears no Christians in her womb who may not boast that in some sort they are both Priests and Victims Gens sancta regale sacerdodotium 1. Pet. 2. The Scripture gives them this honourable title by the mouth of S. Peter the Saints glory in the Apocalypse that the Grace of Baptism hath made them Priests and Kings Fecisti nos regnum sacerdotes Deo Patri so that we cannot question this title as not belonging to the Christian unlesse we question the Authority of the Scripture nor can we doubt that the Son of God hath honoured them with this Character but we must withall doubt of his love or of his power Indeed the Fathers of the Church have professed that the Christians were Priests that their Baptism was their Priesthood Sacerdotium Laico um Baptisma Hieron and that in this Sacrament which separates them from the world they were consecrated to Jesus Christ Therefore doth the great Saint Hierome writing against the Luciferians honour the Laity with this title and cals their Baptism their Priesthood Saint Augustine is of the same mind and though he was not ignorant of the difference between the Laity and the Clergy he forbears not to style all Christian Priests because their Name denotes their Unction and their Grace makes them the members of the High Priest Jesus Christ And certainly he that shall consider the employments of Priests will find that they are common to the Laity and though they have neither their character nor their power they are with them admitted into the dispensation of the Sacraments They may administer Baptism in case of necessity communicate the Grace they have received and bring forth children to Jesus Christ Though they are not raised to that pitch of dignity which makes the Priests Judges in the Tribunal of Repentance and have not any Authority from the Son of God to remit sins neverthelesse it hath sometimes fallen out that the Faithful being not able to meet with a Priest have confessed themselves to Laicks and the Laicks have endeavoured to obtain Grace for them by means of Prayer which in some sort supplies the vertue of Absolution Saint Thomas authoriseth this custome and exhorts Soldiers that enter into the field Mariners that are surprised with a storm not to neglect this remedy and to fly to this kind of confession when they want the ordinary one He confirms the use thereof by his reasons and tels us that the sorrow and the humility Christians epxresse in this occasion is not unprofitable to draw down upon them the Divine mercie The Laity in some sense may be said to sacrifice daily in our Churches If they pronounce not the Sacramental words with the Priests they joyn themselves with their intentions and accompanying them with their vows have a share in the producing of Jesus Christ on our Altars For the Priests representing the whole Church in this Sacrament they are the Syndics or Proctors of the Faithful acting in their name they require their assistance and conjure them to joyn with them in an action which equally concerns them all All the words of the Masse confirm this truth The confession which is common to Priest and people testifies that the sacrifice is common The oblation of the Host wherein the Priest requires the attention and consent of the people is an evident proof of the part they bear in it the very Canon wherein the Priest treats in secret with God where he interposeth the credit of the Saints that reign in Heaven authoriseth this belief For he speaks in the name of the Faithful and even then when he offers this sacrifice in their behalf testifies that he offers it with them and that he is at the same time the Minister of Jesus Christ and of his Church Finally Christians are Priests as we have said because they are ordained daily to offer up sacrifices Perum Sacrificium est omne opus quod agitur ut sancta societate haereamus Deo Aug. and according to the language of Saint Augustine all vertuous actions are so many holy oblations which they present to the Eternal Father He that sings with the Priest offers the sacrifice of praise he that gives Alms to the poor makes a sacrifice of his goods he that is sorrowful for his sins offers a sacrifice of his heart and he that endeavours to wash them away by his tears offers a sacrifice of his eyes But not to reckon up all the actions of the Faithful it is enough to say with the same Saint Augustine that their whole life is a sacrifice and that they begin to be Priests assoon as they begin to be Victims These two qualities were inseparable in the person of Jesus Christ he bare them from the very first moment of his Incarnation and assoon as ever he held the language of a Priest A Domino Deo missus Christus sacerdos noster assumpsit à nobis quod offerret Domino ipsas primitias carnis ex utero virginis Aug. he had the dispositions of a Victim He began his sacrifice with his life he offered himself to his Father in the chast womb of his Mother and having received that Divine Unction which constituted him High Priest he protested that he would be a publick Victim He finished upon the Crosse what he had projected before his Birth and joyning these two qualities in his Death taught us that we should not separte them during our life Therefore are all Christians obliged to be Victims and after the example of Jesus Christ they ought to find in their person the subject of their sacrifice They have no remainders of Adam which may not happily be subservient to this design Whatever they hold of this wretched Father ought to be consumed by the flames of Justice or those of Charity Purgatory will burn that which the fire hath not and Heaven finishing what these two had begun wâ—â— reduce the Victim to an estate where nothing will appear in