blessed Kingdom No that must not be I have sufficiently suffer'd to come to the enjoyments of a crown of glory and thou shalt enjoy it upon no other terms Thou must labour for it and if thou dost but begin the work my grace shall help thee to bring it to its full accomplishment Let not the frailty of thy nature overballance thy courage Angelus Domini Exercitium est Mal. 2.7 let not the difficulty which thou art to encounter oblige thee to a shameful retreat for I shall be present with thee in all thy conflicts to cast dust in thine enemies face Constitui te Deum Pharaonis Exod. 7. Ego dixi Dij estis Psal 48. and to put them all to a shameful rout Remember that thou art not only an Angel but even a God upon Earth for thou hast heard me say by my Prophet of a Priest of the Levitical Law that he was the Angel of the Lord of Hosts and thou art satisfied that I did appoint Moises to be the God of Pharaoh Who can deny but that Holy Men are Gods upon Earth seeing that I have said it by one of my Prophets the perfections of man therefore may and ought to be proportionably suitable to so great a dignity and why shouldst thou think it strange that I should expect thee to lead an Angelical life on Earth and to raise thy self by contemplation and spiritual dilection above thy self Homo cum in honore effet non intellexit Comparatus est in mentis infipientibus similis factus est illis Ps 48. Si dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus ipsi nos seducimus Isa 1.8 wouldst thou have the words of my Prophet to be verified in thee Man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish 'T is certain that thou mayst with the assistance of my grace make so great a Progress in virtue as to be equal with the very Angels even in thy Pilgrimage and to enjoy a more excellent crown of Glory then some of them in heaven In answer to thy Second objection that it is impossible for man to live in the world without sin 't is true that thou hast Scripture for what thou sayst For my beloved Disciple avers that if mortals will say that they have no sin they deceive themselves and that the truth is not in them In multis offendimus omnes Jac. 3. Quid est homo ut immaculatus fit ut justus appareat natus demuliere Job 15. Non est homo super terrum qui faciat bonum non peccat Eccl. 7. Justus septies cadit de die Prov. 24. the same James my beloved Apostle and worthy Brother confirms In many things says he we all offend and Job that perfect model of patience and worthy object of all mens imitation sets this question what is man that he should be clean and he which is born of a Woman that he should be righteous But thou must understand that Sin is properly call'd a transgression either of the divine or of the natural or of the positive law A man by Gods grace may and ought to be free from this because it is a mortal sin which he is commanded and bound to avoid for as much as it doth give a deadly wound to his Soul 'T is not like to a venial Sin for the Wise will tell thee that there is not a just man upon Earth that does good and sinneth not no for a just man falleth seven times a day and riseth up again As for the instableness of mans heart thou mayst be very well satisfied with my Apostles answer for I must allow him to be a better Judge in that case then thou art having had a far greater triall of the world and more experience in the hearts of men then thou canst pretend to For he was first a grand Persecutor of my Church and after a Vessel of Election to bring my name and preach my Doctrine over all the World If thou wilt ask him what it was that wrought that great alteration in him he will tell thee Stabiles immobiles estote abundantes in opere Domini semper 1 Cor. 15. by the grace of God I am what I am and his Grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. The wise Solomon is much of the same opinion Justus ejus fundamentum aeternum Prov. 10. for he says that the Righteous is an everlasting foundation take notice how my Servants all agree in their Doctrine they all have it from the same spirit Therefore I tell thee that whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them I will liken him unto a Wise man which built his house upon a Rock The rain descended the Flouds came the windes blew and beat upon that House and it fell not for it was founded upon a Rock hence thou mayst conclude that the mind of man which of her own nature or rather by her own evil custome is mighty instable and turns every way like a Wind-mill will with the help of my grace be easily made stedfast fortified by the constant practice of virtue Optimum est gratia stabilire Cor. Hebr. 13. and by frequent Acts of Charity become as unmovable as a Rock therefore my Apostle says it 's a good thing that the heart be establish'd with Grace Experience will give it further Evidence Thou knowest that the more fervent love is the more it settles the Lover in the Beloved moreover Custom being as it were a second nature there is nothing so difficult but may be overcome and made pleasant and easy by continual practice even so thy mind if it be once adorn'd with divine and spiritual exercises it will not only with ease but fervently also and with very great satisfaction adhere firmly to me with more assurance comfort then ever the rich Glutton did delight in his unlawfull pleasure and treasures Thou hast as many and as authentick Witnesses of this truth as have been Saints and perfect men in the world MAN O Most gracious Saviour Quid est homo quod memores ejus aut filius hominis quoniam visitas eum Ps 8. the Eternal wisdom of God! I return thee my hearty thanks for all thy favours and for this wholesome instruction which thou wert pleas'd to give me O Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him or what service dost thou expect from the Son of man that thou dost vouchsafe to visit him so often with the sweetness of thy frequent consolations what has he deserved that thou shouldst be so free to impart thy grace unto him Nay if thou shouldst deny him that great favour and even abandon him to his unruly passions he would have no cause to complain of thee for his Sins have
leads to it this is a necessary consequence of that grief hatred of sin for if thou be'st heartily sorry for the evil committed and dost truly detest it thou wilt also have a will to avoid it if not 't is most evident that thou hast neither sorrow nor aversion This contrition to be perfect and effectual must have four conditions it must be interiour Supernatural universal and Sovereign It must be interiour I mean from the heart for the outward expression of grief is at best but a complement and a meer illusion whereby many poor Souls are basely deceiv'd and utterly ruin'd Deut. 4. The heart must be sensibly touch'd with compunction it must be an act of the will thou must convert thy self to God with all thy heart and seek for him with the sorrow and tribulation of thy Soul See how I reprehended the Pennance of the Jews Scindite cordis vestra non vestimenta vestra ait Dominus Joel 2. they made great exteriour signs even to rent their cloths but they were not at all mov'd in their hearts and therefore I told them by my Prophet that they should convert themselves to me with all their hearts in tears and lamentations and that they should tear their hearts and not their garments Both Scripture and Reason does manifest this truth that this sorrow for thy Sins must be lodg'd in thy heart and as thy will was the principal cause of thy Sin so it must be the chief actor in thy sorrow Thy heart must renounce the evil which it has willfully committed and detest the sin which it had formerly affected Thy Grief must issue from a supernatural motive and the reason of it is that an action purely natural cannot be a condign satisfaction to me for thy mortal transgression of my positive commandment thou mayst see by the sorrow of Saul who did not grieve for his sin but for the loss of his Kingdom which God had resolv'd to take from him to give it to a more faithful and obedient servant Antiochus's sorrow was grounded upon the like motive for he did not weep for his sins but by reason of his great misfortunes Afflictions may indeed stir up a Sinner to return to God but they shall never be able to reclaim him from his wickedness without my Grace To obtain which he must detest his sins because they are infinitely offensive to God and a great obstacle to his own Salvation these are supernatural motives without which thy contrition will signify nothing in order to receive the grace of God Thy grief must be also sovereign that is most powerful And the reason for it is that it 's not enough to detest Sin upon a supernatural motive but that this motive must overrule all other that come into thy minde and rather detest sin by reason of the damage it brings to thy Salvation or the injury done to God thereby then for any natural evils which it may produce and be ready to suffer them all rather then commit one mortal Sin This is what Divines call detesting Sin Supra omne detestabile that is to detest it more then all which in the world is capable to stir up thy hatred and detestation In fine Ezech. 18. thy grief must be universal as to all mortal sins without excepting any 't is therefore I order'd my Prophet to tell my People that they must do Pennance for all the Sins which they had committed and if the Sinner shall do Pennance for all his Sins he shall live The reason of it is that mortal Sins cannot be remitted but totally not one without the rest for if thou shouldst reserve an affection for one mortal Sin tho' thou shouldst have an abhorrence against all the rest thou art still an enemy to God and a worthy object of his highest displeasure By this thou mayst perceive how grossly they are mistaken who pretend to be perfectly contrite and yet refuse to pardon injuries to be reconcil'd to their Enemies to restore unlawful goods to avoid the immediate occasions of Sin In a word all those that have any wilful tye to any particular sin shall have the same measure from my hands as Antiochus had for their Pennance as well as his is but imaginary MAN O My most mercifull Lord have pitty upon me and let my poor Soul partake of the wonderful effects of thy great clemency I acknowledge now the great evil which I have done now I see the grievousness of my Sins now I see how few have that true and perfect contrition which is so necessary to Salvation seeing they relapse into their habitual offences so soon and so easily for had they that great sorrow for their Sins they would be certainly more vigilant to avoid them then to prevent the greatest of all misfortunes They would be also more eager to set a stop to the dangerous currant of venial Sins since they are the preludes of a vicious habit and that by degrees they bring us to make nothing of mortals for they do notably diminish the lights of our understanding the sincerity of our minde is overclouded by them our heart over-rul'd the strength of grace and the vigour of virtue made weaker our Soul disorder'd and laid open to all evil impressions 'T is true they don't destroy sanctifying grace but they dispose us very much to lose it All together they don't make a mortal sin but they dispose the Soul to fall into it They don't directly cause death but they create those spiritual weaknesses maladies which bring death with them In a word tho' venial Sins don't break the league and unity betwixt God and the Soul which is grounded upon that happy foundation of grace yet inperceptably they diminish it and by this diminution Charity is weaken'd in us and God by degrees withdraws from us the chief favours of his assistance in all our spiritual necessities consequently having less strength we fall more easily into mortal Sin when we are assaulted by any temptation By this I may easily conclude that whoever is careless to avoid venial sins has not a sufficient abhorrence of mortals for there is nothing so venial but may be through an immoderate complacency dissolution or recreation become of the number of mortals and perhaps of the most capital Sins How then is it possible for those that continue whole hours nay from morning till night in Taverns and Tipling-houses Ranting Drinking Vae qui cogitatis inutile Mich. 2. Vae vobis qui ridetis quia flebitis Dancing and other such like dissolutions to be excus'd from mortal Sins since that God threatens with a woe even those who think of unprofitable things He does the same to those that place all their consolation and felicity in Riches As also to those that in any thing belonging to nature take pleasure to excess Ah! Vae vobis divitibus qui habetis consolationem vestram Et vae vobis qui saturati estis Luk. 6
These are my familiars O Lord wherewith I have so often displeas'd thee rebellious ungrateful and perfidious creature as I am I have been created to thy Image and likeness but alas by my Sins I have made my Soul most like unto the Devils those monsters of ingratitude By my Sins I have often renew'd the bitter Death and Passion of Jesus thy beloved Son Quis dabit Capitimeo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrimarum plorabo die ac nocte Jer. 9.1 O how can I worthily deplore so great an evil who will give water to my head a fountain of tears to my eyes to lament both night and day my misery and malice To have contributed to thy death O Lord is of all other motives the most powerful to replenish my minde with grief and sorrow and therefore do desire to hear from thy self the particulars of it SAVIOVR KNow then that after I had taken man out of the bowells of the Earth with a Faciamnus and created him to my own Image and likeness in order to make him sole Lord and absolute Monarch of the whole Universe with full power to take and tast of all things that a most pleasant paradise could afford the fruit of Life only excepted He the ungratefull and rebellious creature considering the great advantage of his condition and the greatness of his dignity which should be to him a sufficient motive to love obey respect and praise me for ever took thence occasion to mutiny rebell and desert me and enter into a league against me with Lucifer whom I had a little before expell'd Heaven for his thoughts of Pride Ambition and who from that very moment made a vow to deface and destroy my Picture being that he could not annoy my Person This so heinous an offence deserv'd he should be immediately commanded out of that Terrestrial Paradise where he was created and liv'd like a petty Prince and where he had all other creatures even the most furious among them at his beck to do with them as he thought fit Accepisti argentum vestes a Naaman sed Lepra Naaman adhaerebit tibi semini tuo usque in sempiternum 4 Reg. 5. He was therefore turn'd off as a vagabond cast into exile and made liable to suffer the punishment even of the damn'd for as he became an associate to the Devil in Sin 't was fit he should be his companion in torment Thou hast heard of my Judgement inflicted on Gehazi my Prophets servant and how for taking Naaman's mony and cloths for the cure of his Leprosy I order'd that for his covetous transgression both he and all his generation to the worlds end should share in his Leprosy as he did in his garments Even so have I decreed against man who had so much affected Lucifers Pride and Ambition that he should be likewise infected with his Leprosy and as he was obedient to his suggestions he should partake of his punishments also Behold the fatal Metamorphosis of man and how for imitating the Devil in his rebellion he forfieted my resemblance to put on that of this most horrid and hideous Monster of Hell Man being made so abominable by sin and so great an eyesore to my divine Essence I in mercy was mov'd not to reflect so much upon the injury done to my Supream Majesty as not to condole the greatness of his deplorable misery was more inclin'd to compassionate his weakness then to be reveng'd of his crime Whereupon to repair his loss I undertook to mediate his peace with my heavenly Father and in order to so great a work I contracted with humane nature so strict an alliance that I became both God and man which was so grateful to my Father that he not only forgave man all his past transgressions but also receiv'd him into favour with all the demonstrations of joy that could be express'd Who would ever expect that so large and so dangerous a breach should ever be repair'd who would ever imagine that two things so opposit one to the other as is the divine to humane nature should come to subsist and remain together not in one house not at one table nor in one bed but in one and the self-same person This is a miracle beyond the expectation of man and indeed beyond th' expression of an Angel for there cann't be any two more contrary then is God and the Sinner yet now what two can be more firmly united or have greater influence then God and man There is nothing more sublime then God Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris Gen. 1. and nothing more vile and despicable then man Notwithstanding God with all humility descends from Heaven to man and man ascends to Heaven with God so that the action of man is the same with that of God and whatever God is said to have done may be justly imputed to man because that I am both God and man Who would ever believe that man to see him naked after his dismal fall and absconding in one corner or other in Paradise for to keep himself from Gods indignation and wrath who would believe I say that such a fordid and contemptable substance should be in time united to God in one and the same Person This was a strange union indeed and a true lovers knot for when it was upon the dissolution at the time of my Passion it did not in the least fail but was rather violently separated to shew what an amorous inclination I had to be still united to humane nature Death indeed might have taken my Soul from my body and break off that union of nature which kept them together Quod semel assumpsit nunquam dimisit Aug. but had not the power to withdraw my Godhead from either of them for that was an union of the divine person which I shall never relinquish having once fix'd upon it with all the tenderness of a most ardent love MAN O Lord I am so much oblig'd to thee for this extraordinary great favour that I am not able to return thee sufficient thanks for the way and means which thou hast taken to redeem me and my very redemption is so great a benefit that no Angelical tongue is able to express it All that I can say is that I am bound by all the ties both of nature and conscience to love thee and stand submissive to thy laws for ever Thou hast deliver'd my Soul out of the infernal Dragon's jaws and without any merit of mine but meerly through the multitude of thy mercies thou hast reconcil'd me to thy self This is eternally worthy of praise But if I consider how and after what manner thou hast done me that unspeakable favour I shall finde that it does exceed even that great work of my redemption Thy works are wonderfull in all their circumstances Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis and tho' man when he considers one does really believe that
perpetual decree that it can't pass it and tho' the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho' they roar yet can they not pass over it as if he had said hast thou not a great deal of reason to dread the Arm of so powerful a God whose omnipotency is sufficiently discover'd by this prodigious work And if he be so great in all his works thou must likewise acknowledge him to be great in the chastisement of Sinners The same Prophet was Innocent and free from the least spot of Sin being Sanctifi'd in his Mothers womb yet he trembles at the very noise of my Severity to Sinners and says there is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy name is great in might Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee does it appertain For as much as among all the wisemen of the Nations and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee My heart is replenish'd with the fear of thy wrath and therefore have sequester'd my felf from the converse of all men into a remote wilderness to prevent thy fury and appease thy Anger with sorrow with Sighs and with a continual flood of tears Respicit Terram facit eam tremere tangit montes fumigant Psa 105. Stellae Columnae Coeli pavent contremiscuntad nutum ejus Job 26.11 Ideo sn uno die venient plagaeejus mors luctus fames igne comburetur quia fortis est Dominus Deus qui Jndicabit illam Ap. c. 18.8 Tho' this holy man was certain that my Indignation and wrath was not against him yet seeing it so great and ready to fall with all its weight upon the criminal and guilty heads of Sinners he had no less then cause to tremble being that even my looks put the Earth in a quaking fit and make the Mountains groan nay they make the Stars and even the Pillars of Heaven to tremble they are astonish'd at my reproof and why not being that the Angels and Archangels the Cherubins and Seraphins the Principalities and Powers of Heaven are all Struck into an amazement at the very aspect of my most dreadful Majesty and angry countenance not that they fear to be depriv'd of their glory but because the greatness of my indignation is such that they can't but be astonish'd at the very sight of me By this thou mayst Judge in what a deplorable condition the Damn'd will be for these are the unhappy wretches which are to feel the weight of my wrath all their plagues shall come upon them in one day everlasting death mourning and famine shall be their inheritance for ever they shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth them My Apostle had a sufficient tryal of my Strength when I forc'd him out of the way of iniquity Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis Heb. 10.31 and of a Persecutor of Christians made him the Defender and powerful promoter of Christianity therefore he says it 's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God not into the hands of men for they are not so powerful but criminals may fly from their violence and decline from their anger moreover they have not the authority to cast a Soul into the Dungeon of Hell It 's therefore I had warn'd my Disciples not to fear them which kill the Body Mat. 10.28 and are not able to kill the Soul but rather to fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and body in Hell And these are the hands which my Apostle calls dreadful they are them also that the wise man speaks of where he says unless ye do pennance and give that slender attonement of tears and of a hearty grief to God for your sins ye shall undoubtedly fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men By what is already said thou mayst easily conclude that as I am omnipotent and great in my power in my Majesty and in all my works I am the same in my wrath in my Justice and in the punishment which I have decreed for the Damned If thou wilt examine Scripture thou shalt finde there such dreadful effects of my Justice upon the wicked even in this life which is the only season for mercy that thou shalt be forc'd to confess that the pains of Hell must be as intollerable as they are unspeakable and that it were better for the dam'd they had never been born then to endure them for an Eternity without any hopes of redemption or of the least abatement What a terrible punishment was that of Dathan and Abiram and of all their Complices in the sight of that numerous People of Israel at the request of my Servant Moises to vindicate his innocency and punish the wrong which was intended to him by those Peoples rising in Rebellion against him I commanded the Earth to open its bowels and to swallow them alive together with all their Earthly substance down into the bottomless pit of Hell which was no sooner commanded then put in execution The punishment of Sodom and Gomorah if well consider'd is able to terify the stoutest Bully that ever appear'd on the Stage of this world to mollify his obdurate heart and force from his mouth Lord what wilt thou have me do They were so much addicted to that brutish pleasure Domine quid me vis facere Act. 9.6 and sordid Sin of the flesh that they must attempt even upon my very Angels and strive to make them the subject of their Lust this was a general corruption and therefore requir'd a general chastisement their Sins cry'd for vengeance Gen. 19.24 and tho' I was sollicited by my Servant Abraham to spare their lives for the sake of ten Just men knowing there was none but Lot who was already secured and under the safeguard of my Angels I pour'd down wild-fire and brimstone upon them and cast them headlong into Hell-fire there to increase the fatal number of the damn'd and to become partakers of their torments as they had been of their crimes on Earth Didst thou ever hear such terrible menaces as are set down in Deuteronomy Deut. 28.16 17. c. and which were exactly put in execution against the transgressours of my Law Hear how the Prophet speaks to them in my behalf Cursed shalt thou be in the City and Cursed shalt thou be in the field Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in enrfed shalt thou be when thou goest out The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation rebuke in all that thou set'st thine hand unto for to do untill thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast for saken me The Lord shall smite thee with a Consumption and with a Fever and with an inflamation and with an extream burning and with the sword and with blasting and they
Earth how necessitous how poor how miserable soever which the damn'd would not most willingly endure nay they would think themselves most happy were they permitted so favourable an Exchange This very Consideration wrought so much upon several of my Saints that there was no course of life so austere but they would undergo My beloved Disciple after he had discours'd of the smoke which ascended from the torments of the damn'd world without end Hic patientia sanctorum est qui custodiunt mandata Dei Apoc. 14.12 and how they had no rest night or day immediately adds here is the patience of the Saints meaning that seeing all the troubles of this life were only temporal and the torments of the other eternal nothing that they endur'd seem'd too much for them See what a penitent posture Manasses had put himself in after his conversion behold how he groans under the burden of his Sins and how he laments his iniquities with such a sorrow that he acknowledg'd himself unworthy even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven so great he confess'd were his offences that he was rather deserving of Hell then any favour at my hands hear his words and thou shalt believe them to be the products of a truly penitent Soul 'T is true says he O Lord I have infinitely offended thee and my Sins are more in number then the Sand of the Sea I am unworthy to lift up my eyes towards Heaven to demand thy mercy I have Sinned O my God I have Sinned I acknowledge all the evil I have done pardon O Lord pardon I beg of thee and earnestly beseech thee do not destroy me with my iniquities do not reserve me to the utmost rigour of the Justice do not condemn me for ever unto the fire of Hell Remember that thou art my God the God of Penitents and thy immense bounty will best appear in me whilst it makes thee to save a miserable Sinner unworthy of thy Grace and gives me occasion to praise thee eternally for thy infinite goodness Behold how the Israelites in their Babilonical Captivity after the taking of Jerusalem cover'd with hair-cloth all their heads and bodys laid over with ashes prostrate on the ground cry out to me from the bottom of their hearts we have Sinned against thee O Lord in not obeying thy word To thee O Lord belongs Justice and uprightness but to us nothing but shame and confusion which our iniquities have deserv'd We have Sinn'd we have done evil we have dealt unjustly O Lord our God in all thy commandments Turn from us thy anger hear O Lord our prayers and our petitions open thy eyes and consider that the dead praise thee not but the Soul which is sensible and afflicted with the greatness of the evils done and performs due pennance for them Psal 6. How full of inward grief and trouble was David for the Sins he had committed O Lord says he rebuke me not in thine anger chastise me not in thy hot displeasure Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vex'd But thou O Lord how long Return O Lord deliver my Soul Save me for thy mercies sake For in Death there 's no remembrance of thee In the grave who shall give thee thanks I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swim I water my Couch with my tears mine eyes are consum'd with grief Psal 51. Have mercy upon me O Lord according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Wash me throughly from my iniquity and clense me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Against thee only have I Sinned and done this evil in thy sight wherefore contemn not the Sacrifice which I offer unto thee of an afflicted mind and of an humble and contrite heart Behold O man what these great Saints have done to make mean atonement for their Sins and to avoid the everlasting torments of Hell See how they labour'd to mortify their Passions to depress their evil affections and to destroy all their sinister inclinations proceeding from the infection of their sensual concupiscences they knew this to be the only means to weaken the forces of their enemies and that nothing was more effectual to dismount their batteries against them then to chastise their bodies and keep them in subjection by a long and earnest practise of corporal afflictions In Jejunijs multis in multis vigilijs in fame siti frigore nuditate c. 2 Coâ— 11.27 this is the powerful remedy that all my Saints made use of and even my Apostles came to Heaven by the same means for they spent their whole lives in much fasting much watching hunger thirst cold and nakedness My beloved Apostle and Brother St. James tho' he was a man of extraordinary great Sanctity and was therefore Sir-nam'd the Just yet besides other austerities of apparel diet and all other mortifications his exercise of praying on his bare knees was so continual that the skin of them was as hard as the brawn of a Camels knee Philo the learned Jew and famous Philosopher giving an account of the first Christians in Alexandria under St. Mark the Evangelist sent thither from Rome by St. Peter to give a beginning to that Church which he perform'd says he with such exemplary Piety Sanctity of life Simplicity abstinence and mortification that he and his followers mov'd their Adversaries to extreme admiration But to what did all this rigour tend or what might be the end of all these extraordinary mortifications practis'd so exactly and for so many Ages as well by Monks Anachorites and Hermits as by the Founders of Holy Orders and by their Disciples to this very present Age and will continue with my assistance to the worlds end St. St. Aug. L. 1. Confess 5. Augustin will tell thee in these few words the prime motive thereof Moriar ne moriar that is to say I will dy to the end that I may not dy for ever I will mortify my body in this Life lest I should be of the unhappy number of the damn'd for ever St. Hierom is much upon the same point for being in the Desert of Syria he was set upon by the Devil who plagu'd him as he did St. Paul with suggestions of the Flesh but what weapons did he make use of to obtain the victory over so dangerous an enemy the fear of God and of the fire of Hell was an Armour of proof to him against all the temptations snares of so powerful an adversary Hear the relation he makes himself of his several conflicts and brave defence How often says he being in the Wilderness was I burnt up and scorch'd with the extream heat of the Sun how oft likewise was I tempted with the Roman delights tho' I was so far distant from those objects and so low
Abraham sent his Servant to finde out a competent Gen. 17. and virtuous Wife for his dearly beloved Son Isaac I had a special care to direct him the safest and best way and also to bring his business to a most prosperous conclusion and all was for the great love kindeness I had for his Master Gen. 39 I would do as much to a bad Master for the sake of a good Servant and have already done it to Potiphar the Egiptian for the sake of my Patriarch Joseph for I have multiply'd all his substance as well in his house as in the Fields not upon his own account being an unbelieving Heathen but meerly for the love I had for his chast and godly Servant What mercy what care what Providence can be greater then this and is he not a mad man indeed that will refuse to serve so good so liberal and so bountiful a Lord as I am to all those that serve me and who am so careful of themselves Capillus de capite vestro non peribit Luc. 21.28 and of all that concerns them that I can't suffer so much as one hair of their head to be lost The effects of my Providence are so many and so wonderful that I am commonly call'd in Scripture the Father of the Righteous Psal 103. and I likewise call them my dearly beloved Children my Providence promoted the Prophet royal and was favourable to him upon all occasions neither was he ungrateful or unmindeful of my benefits for He gives me this Atonement of his gratefull acknowledgement Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Bless his holy name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Who forgives all thine iniquities who heals all thy diseases who redeems thy life from destruction who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfies thy mouth with good things by him thy youth is renew'd like the Eagles The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppress'd He made known his ways to Moises and all his actions unto the Children of Israel The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and prone to mercy He will not always chide us neither will he keep his anger for ever He has not dealt with us as our sins have deserv'd nor has he rewarded us according to our iniquitys For as the Heaven is High above the Earth so great is his mercy towards them that fear him As far as the East is from the West so far has he remov'd our transgressions from us even as a Father doth pitty his Children So the Lord pittys them that fear him for he knows our frame and he remembers that we are nothing but dust Esa 63.16 The Prophet Esaiah thinking the name of Father did not sufficiently express the tenderness of my love because it has been never yet paralel'd by any mortal Parents says Lord thou art our Father indeed Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel does not acknowledge us Thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer and thy name is from everlasting and tho' they be our Father according to the flesh yet they don't deserve the name thereof 't is a qualification due to thee alone for their love for us is no more then a shaddow to that which thou hast express'd to us upon all occasions my love rather resembles that which a good natur'd Mother bears to her child and therefore I compare my self to the most passionate of the Sex Can a Mother forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me Esa 49.15 Can any Mother speak with a more tender expression of love who will be so blinde so stupid and so far from good nature as not to rejoyce at the very sound of these superamourous words which are able to revive the deadest heart that ever was to all motions of love or devotion what man tho' never so great a drone hearing me give him this extraordinary assurance of my most ardent love and paternal Providence will not run with the spouse in the Canticles after the sweet scent of my perfumes I am a God that speaks to thee and the eternal verity too which was never guilty of the least falshood whose riches have no limits and whose power is of the same nature with the rest of my attributes which are all infinite I am therefore him only thou shouldst fear to offend and in whom thou shouldst place all thy hopes and confidence my words should comfort and rejoyce thy heart the title of honour I confer upon thee should unman thee so far as to take on the heart and spirit of a child of God and the assur'd demonstrations I give thee of my great Love and Providence should breed in thee an everlasting abhorrence of the World and all it's allurements What more shall I say Deut. 32.11 Deut. 1.31 or to what shall I compare the love which I bear unto thee the Eagle of all Mothers is the most tender of her little ones and it 's therefore the Prophet says of me as an Eagle stirs up her nest flutters over her young spreads abroad her wings takes them and bears them on her wings so the Lord has dealt with thee nay thou hast seen how the Lord thy God bears thee as a man does bear his young child in his arms in all the way that ye went until ye came into this place What could I do that I have not done to my People to wean their affections from the World and settle them totally upon so good and so Cordial a Father as I am to them I call them my beloved Children and so they are indeed for thou shalt find as many authentick testimonies as there have been Prophets in the World from the beginning that they are my Children in effect as well by their Creation as by their preservation from all dangers The Prophet Jeremy will tell thee that I have lov'd them with an everlasting love Jerem. 31. and that with loving kindness I have drawn them out of nothing to what they are at present and have preserv'd them as well from their temporal as from their Spiritual Enemies whilst they remain'd submissive to my Laws and gave me the reverence which is expected from dutiful Children to their Parents O ye Nations says the same Prophet hear the word of the Lord declare it in the Isles afar off say the Lord that has Scatter'd the People of Israel for their Sins will gather them again if they will cry to him for mercy and if they continue obedient to his commands he will keep them as a Shepherd does his flock For the Lord has redeem'd Jacob and has ransom'd him from the hand of him that was stronger then He. The same