make us believe they do He hath been mightily conversant in Modern Casuists and Schoolmen and that makes him so ill a Divine as to tell us of receiving good by the Sacrament ex opere operate i. e. Never minding what is done but only the doing the bare action of it I could not forâ—â—â—â— shewing a mark of dislike when I found him quâ—â—â—ing two such bouncing Authorities out of St Austine and St. Jerome for delivering Souls out of Purgatory by the efficacy of Mass I confess they are very pregnant for his purpose if he can but shew us those Words in the true Writings of those two Fathers but to send us to the Man in the Moon to know further this is not fair nor Scholar-like If any man else will undertake to shew us those Words in the undoubted and unforg'd Works of St. Austine and St. Jerome he will make me for my part in that point A Quietist THE AUTHOR'S Advertisement 'T IS none of my intention to Difcourse in this Subject by the way of Humane Respects or Passion nor to defend hard Controversies nor promote my own Opinions and though I have Written this short Treatise at the continual ingagements and instances of Zealous Persons yet God's greater Glory and the Spiritual advantage of Souls have been my onely desire Nor is it any less my design that by this Treatise and these Reasons the Faithful should govern themselves in the business of frequent Communion without the Prudent and Holy Counsel of their Spiritual Fathers because I always look upon it more fitting to obey their Orders though it should hinder the Communion than to communicate every day according to their own Sense and Judgment This Compendium of the Reasons and Authorities of Councils Saints and Doctors is onely drawn up a-purpose that Confessours may see the small reason there is to hinder those Souls from taking the Communion which desire it receive good by it and are obedient to their Directions A Short TREATISE Concerning Daily Communion CHAP. I. No Minister ought to keep a faithful Person from the Communion that does desire and ask it whilst he doth not know his Conscience defiled with mortal Sin. THE Council of Trent treating of the Preparation which Priests and Lay-men ought to make for the worthy Receiving of the Holy Eucharist hath these following words Sess 13. Cap. 17. The Custom of the Church makes it clear that Examination and Proof is necessary in order to the Communion that no man knowing himself guilty of mortal Sin though he may seem Contrite to himself come to the Sacrament unless he have before been at Sacramental Confession Which comprehends all Christians and even Priests who are bound by their Office to Celebrate it from whence 't is clearly to be inferred that the Council makes no other disposition necessary for the Communicating of Lay-men and the Priest's saying Mass than not to have any mortal Sin. Why then should the Ministers be a hindrance to those which have that disposition The Ministers will not say that their Authority is greater than that of the Council nor that they are more Learned than all those Fathers of the Church that came to it nor will they say less that they have a greater light from God than that which he then communicated to his Spouse the Church Therefore the Ministers ought not to require a greater disposition than being without mortal Sin whilst the Council requires no more Either the Ministers and Priests which say Mass daily have this Holiness and Perfection themselves which they require in Laymen or else they have it not they will not say they have it because it would then be pride in 'em If they have it not and yet Celebrate Mass every day why do they require it from Laymen in order to the granting 'em the Communion daily 'T is good to advise 'em to this Perfection but if they should not have it it will not be reasonable to deprive 'em of so great a good because they may have reason to fear that Christ our Lord may say to 'em as he did to the Pharisees St Matthew 23.24 That they bind heavy burdens upon men and they themselves will not touch 'em with one of their fingers And that also is verified which David said Psalm 61.10 That men are deceitful in the weight Mendaces filii hominum in stateris Since they have one weight for themselves and another for Laymen If the Council judges that not being in mortal Sin is a worthy disposition towards saying Mass daily consecrating and offering Sacrifice which is the holiest Service how much more worthy will such a disposition be for onely the receiving the Communion If Councils the Church Popes Saints and Doctors require no greater disposition to receive fruit from this Sacrament than not being in mortal Sin why must the Ministers require a greater The Council of Trent hath the following words Sess 28. Cap. 6. Optaret quidem Sancta Synodus ut in singulis missis fideles adstantes non solum spirituali affectu sed Sacramentali etiam Eucharistiae perceptione Communicarent quo ad eos hujus sacrificii fructus uberior perveniret That is the holy Council would look upon it as a very good thing that in every days Mass the Faithful who assist at it would be Communicated not onely Spiritually and in their desires but also Sacramentally by receiving the Holy Eucharist that they might thus obtain the more abundant benefit by this most Holy Sacrament The Council therefore desires that the Faithful would Communicate every day that they hear Mass with the disposition of having no mortal Sin as it signified Sess 13. Cap. 7. Will any Ministers say that this is not well and so openly set themselves in opposition to the desires of the Church The Congregation of the Council declared it an Errour that any Bishops in a Capriccio should limit and hinder Daily Communion from being taken by Merchants and House-keepers The holy Rota reports it in the year 1587 Barbos in Concil Trid. Sup. c. 22. and after it had Decreed that all Laymen might be communicated even every day though they should be Merchants and House-keepers it adds the following words Quapropter exhortandi sunt fideles ut sicut quotidie peccant ita quotidie medicinam accipiant That is wherefore the Faithful are to be exhorted that as they Sin daily so they daily receive this Medicine of the Sacrament of the Eucharist And the same Council of Trent says Sess 13. c. 2. de Instit Sanctiss Sacr. Qui manducat me ipse vivet propter me tanquam antidotum quo liberemur a culpis quotidianis a peccatis mortalibus praeservemur The Communion is as an Antidote to free us from daily Sins and preserve us from mortal Sins If the Council and its Decree speaks here not of the Basils and Antonies nor of the Catharines and Clares as some say it is required for 'em to be but of those that Sin
who reckon themselves Ministers of Jesus Christ ought to make it their proper work and business to set themselves against the Devil's intentions not depriving people of their Daily Communion but advising 'em to it and procuring it for ' em Fryer Joseph of St. Mary after he had told us the words of the holy Council of Trent where he says that he desires that all men would communicate daily in his Apology for frequent Communion has these following words Is it therefore possible O my Christian Fathers and Brethren that the Church should have any such children who do so openly contradict her and that understanding from their Mother that it would be a good thing for Christians to communicate every day they should say it is not convenient and so oppose themselves to her and contradict her Certainly this looks like the Devil's temptation to hinder the growth of Souls though it be done with good zeal and to such as be zealous of God's honour and of the Church their Mother this will not look well Thus far the Author Now let any Summist and Learned Man that has a great opinion of himself see whether it be lawful to oppose the Authority of so great a Tribunal and the laudable Custom of the Church and her Declarations against the Practice and Doctrine of the Apostles and against the Preaching of the holy Doctors of the Church Let no man mutter or deny the holy Communion says Lewis Fundone tract de diu Sacr. p. 2. c. 21. fol. 149. as if there were no occasion for it and let him have a care that God do not deny him Heaven since to condemn this is to condemn the commendable Customs and most ancient Practice of the Church and the greatest Servants of God. Thus far the Author Father Peter of Marseilles a Benedictine addit ad memor Compostel fol. 62. says That as often as a man communicates without the guilt of mortal sin either by not having committed it or by being pardoned it he receives grace by it This disposition is not of so small moment as some think since the holy Council of Trent thinks it enough for reverence and holiness They are mightily to be commended that do their best to perswade the faithful to communicate daily and consequently what a great error and prejudice of Souls are they that hinder Lay-men the Sacramental Communion every day Nothing but Mortal Sin says St. Thomas can keep a Christian from the Communion How therefore does it come to pass that the Ministers keep men from it when they have no Mortal sin to indispose ' em It would be well considered that Christ is in this Sacrament for salve for our wounds for comfort to our troubles and for strength in our adversities and lastly for a pledge and memorial of the love that he bears to Souls and that this great Lord stands crying out whether there be any that would have him and the Souls answer that they will have him but asking the Ministers of the Church to give 'em their Lord and divide to them their daily bread the Ministers turn the deaf ear to it being Stewards of Gods house and are very pinching and niggardly in distributing that which the Lord commands and so freely gives Such a stinginess as this is to be lamented with Tears of Blood. Who would not weep to see that when Gods hand is so open in giving his servants should be so close-fisted and covetous in distributing and that God being so bountiful of his own blessings which cost him his blood they should be so greedy in a thing that cost 'em nothing and in a word this Sacrament being that open fountain of David free to all the Sons of Jacob who go to it for the pretious water without giving any thing for it the Ministers sell it so dear that it costs many even tears of blood to obtain it which gives 'em the lamentation of Jeremy that they are fain to buy the water which is their own as dear as if it did belong to some body else Master John d'Avila a Man known sufficiently for his exemplary Goodness and Learning and Preaching being asked whether a Superiour or one that had the cure of Souls might deny the Communion to him that should ask it of him every day not having lawful impediment made answer thus My opinion is that no lawful impediment appearing the Prelate and he that in his room hath the business of Administrating the Eucharist is obliged to give it to him that is under him every time that he asks it He that denies the most holy Sacrament is unjust and deprieves him of his right and due that asks it A Christian as St. Thomas says has so much a right to ask it that the Prelate cannot deny it him except it be for a publick sin Asking it in publick he ought to give it him though he knows that he has Sin in secret and then how much more ought he to one that asks it devoutly he is cruel he takes away the Spiritual Bread from his Child and I must condemn him for a sinner in it All this says the above-mentioned Author in his Treat 23. Part 3. Will they say if it be a good and holy thing to Communicate every day why doth not the Church then command it and why did not the Founders of Religions who were indued with so much light leave it for a rule and why did not some Saints imbrace this frequency Saint Mark the Evangelist cut off his Thumb that they might not make him ordain Saint Francis of Assize would never be a Priest Saint Benet was a long time without Communicating Before I come to answer I will ask whether it be well that a man in health should not eat something every day because the Law doth not command it why have some Saints abstained from food some days whether single life be good and not Marriage as St Paul says 1 Cor. 7. because the Law commands it not and why some Saints have not been Married whether it be a good and holy thing to hear Mass daily because the Church does not command it and why some Saints have retired into the desert where they could not hear it Again before I come to answer I will suppose that some examples of the Saints are more to be admired than imitated and that therefore they do not make a general rule that if some have not Communicated they were only a few and they that did Communicate numberless and therefore 't will be more safe to follow the most and not the fewest I answer the difficulty and the question that things necessary ought to be commanded that which is evil ought to be prohibited and that which is good and holy ought to be advised The holy Church doth always act rightly and therefore she doth not command the faithful to Communicate daily because how holy and good a thing soever it be yet 't is not essentially necessary and the
precept of the Church always looks at the benefit of the faithful and so great is our luke-warmness and the frailty of our times that a precept of Daily Communion would be an occasion of sin and ruine and therefore the Church does not injoyn Christians by precept any more than one Communion in a year though the desires that through devotion men would Communicate every day Many men shift off their coming daily to this Divine Banquet that they may not be taken notice of for it and that they may give no occasion to others to grumble and the Ministers hearing this reason hold their tongues and rest satisfied O hurtful silence must they permit for worldly respects that the faithful should lose so great a benefit Is it possible that they should let 'em live at a distance and separate from God and his sweet and loving friendship because the world should not censure ' em if there should be any great account made of what the world says not only the Soul would be lost but also the judgment Is it not known that the world makes it its business to speak ill of what good is and to persecute those that do not take part with it All those that serve great men do make open shew of the degree of their office greatness and dignity and shall a Christian think it a shame to himself to Communicate and be seen in the service of Jesus Christ If it were an evil work to Communicate every day it might breed scandal but if it be the best work that a Christian can do why should he keep from it through an idle fear of offending his neighbour The Jews were offended at the good works of Jesus Christ but for all that his Majesty never left off doing ' em He that doth ill and interprets the good that others do in an evil sense 't is he that gives cause for the scandal but to do well was never a scandal much less can so great a good as Communicating be one If a man should take offence by seeing us eat surely we would not for all that be such fools as to starve our selves We ought to take great heed of following vanities and worldly pleasures that we may not by them offend or scandalize our Neighbour from these vices we ought to keep our selves not from Daily Communion because this cannot cause scandal but will rather edifie our Neighbour and by our good example it may be he may come to change his life and resolve himself to frequent the Sacraments O how many people are there that are cheated by these worldly respects O unhappy men they are not ashamed to be base in their lives and yet they are ashamed to be Christians and to be known for such CHAP. III. Wherein are shewn some of the great benefits of which a faithful man is deprieved by being prohibited the Communion when he is sufflciently disposed for it THat the Minister may see and take good notice of the hurt which he does by deprieving the faithful of the Communion that desire and ask it without the guilt of Mortal Sin it will be necessary to lye before him some of those infinite benefits of which he defrauds 'em onely in one Communion that he may undeceive himself that deprieves 'em of infinite good for mortification sake First he deprieves such a one of the increase of grace and glory which he receives in the Communion whose effect is infallible ex opere operato though he should have venial sins about him He also deprieves him of the mortification of all his five senses and powers which he therein performs whilst his Eyes his Smelling his Tast his Touch his Imagination his Understanding and all his knowledge and capacity do tell him that that Host is Bread by all this he is humbled mortified and subdued whilst he believes that it is not that which he feels and tasts but that his God and Lord is in it He deprieves him also by taking the Communion from him of the cleansing of his sins and evil habits and being preserved from 'em for the time to come of many helps which are therein administred to him for the performance of every good thing and avoiding every evil one and it may happen that the Eternal Salvation or Damnation of a Soul may depend upon one of these helps He deprieves him of the lessening the pains of Purgatory which is participated in every Communion He deprieves him of the high acts of faith hope and charity which he exercises by believing that he receives that God whom he sees not nor feels and hoping in him whom he has not seen and being united with him by love God is goodness it self and he is willing to be communicated through love to Souls by means of the Divine and Sacramental Bread Is there a greater happiness in the world can there be a greater felicity and shall there be any Minister to deprieve the Soul of this benefit In this wonderful Sacrament Christ is united to the Soul and becomes one and the same thing with it In me manet ego in illo St. John 5. which fineness of love is the most profound admirable and worthy of consideration and gratitude because there is no more to give nor to receive and what Minister shall deprieve the Soul of this boundless grace All Blessings do here meet together in this precious Food here all desires of God are fulfilled here is the loving and sacramental Union here 's the Peace the Conformity the Transformation of God with the Soul and the Soul with God. By receiving Jesus in this Sacrament the Eternal Father and the Divine Spirit is also received here are all the Vertues Charity Hope Purity Patience and Humility because Christ our Lord begets all Vertue in the Soul by means of this heavenly Food and what a Heart must the Ministers have to forbid the Soul so great a Happiness If one onely degree of Grace is a gift of inestimable Value and so precious that 't is not to be bought for a thousand Worlds being a particle of God himself and a formal participation of the Divine Nature which makes us his Children and Friends Heirs of Heaven and the Habitation of the most Holy Trinity and if never so little Grace be worth more than all the Vertues Alms and Penances and the removing Mountains as St. Paul says and giving all away to the Poor is a meer Nothing without Grace How then can it be well to deprive the Faithful of the increase of Grace which he might find onely in one Communion How can the Minister deprive him of that and of many others that follow it without giving 'em other things equivalent to those they lose What can be of equal value with habitual Grace which a faithful Man might receive neither can the Humility which he may exercise nor the Reverence nor the Mortification upon the account of which he leaves off the Communion be worth so much
will enviously perswade thee that thou do'st nothing and that thou losest time that so thou mayest neglect Prayer I 'll declare to thee some of the infinite fruits that thy Soul reaps from that great dryness 31. The first is to persevere in Prayer from which fruit spring many other advantages II. Thou 'lt find a loathing of the things of the World which by little and little tends to the stifling of the bad desires of thy past Life and the producing of other new ones of serving God. III. Thou 'lt reflect upon many failings on which formerly thou didst not reflect IV. Thou 'lt find when thou art about to commit any evil an advertency in thy Heart which restrains thee from the execution of it and at other times from Speaking Lamenting or Revenging thy self that 'll take thee off from some little earthly Pleasure or from this or t'other Occasion or Conversation into which formerly thou was running in great Peace and Security without the least Check or Remorse of Conscience V. After that through frailty thou hast fallen in to some light fault thou 'lt feel a Reproof for it in thy Soul which will exceedingly afflict thee VI. Thou l't feel within thy self desires of suffering and of doing the will of God. VII An inclination to Virtue and greater ease in overcoming thy self and conquering the difficulties of the Passions and Enemies that hinder thee in the way VIII Thou l't know thy self better and be confounded also in thy self feel in thee a high esteem of God above all created Beings a contempt of Creatures and a firm Resolution not to abandon Prayer though thou knowest that it will prove to thee a most cruel Martyrdom IX Thou 'lt be sensible of greater Peace in thy Soul love to Humility confidence in God submission and abstraction from all Creatures and finally the Sins thou hast omitted since the time that thou exercised thy self in Prayer are so many signs that the Lord is working in thy Soul though thou knowest it not by means of dry Prayer and although thou feelest it not whilst thou art in Prayer thou 'lt feel it in his due time when he shall think it fit 32. All these and many other fruits are like new Buds that spring from the Prayer which thou would'st give over because it seems to thee to be dry that thou seest no Fruit of it nor reapest no advantage therefrom Be constant and persevere with Patience for though thou knowest it not thy Soul is profited thereby CHAP. V. Treating of the same thing declaring how many ways of Devotion there are and how the sensible Devotion is to be disposed and that the Soul is not idle though it reason not 33. THere are to be found two sorts of Devotion the one essential and true the other accidental and sensible The essential is a promptitude of mind to do well (1) S. Thom. 2. 2. q 82. art 1. fulfil the commands of God and to perform all things belonging to his service though through humane frailty all be not actually done as is desired (2) Suar. t. 2. de Pel. l. 2. c. 6. n. 16. 18. This is true Devotion though it be not accompanied with pleasure sweetness delight nor tears but rather it is usually attended with temptation dryness and darkness 34. Accidental and sensible Devotion is (3) St. Bern. Ser. I. de Nat. Dom. Suarez ib. Molin de Oration c. 6. when good desires are attended with a pleasant softness of heart tenderness of tears or other sensible affections This is not to be sought after nay it is rather more secure to wean the will from it and to set light by it because besides that it is usually dangerous it is a great obstacle to progress and the advancement in the internal way And therefore we ought only to embrace the true and essential Devotion which is always in our power to come by seeing every one doing his duty may with the assistance of the Divine Grace acquire it And this may be had with God with Christ with the Mysteries with the Virgin and with the Saints 35. Some think that when Devotion and sensible Pleasure are given them they are Favours of God that thence forward they have him and that the whole life is to be spent in breathing after that delight but it is a cheat because it is no more but a consolation of nature and a pure reflexion wherewith the Soul beholds what it does and hinders the doing or possibility of doing any thing the acquisition of the true light and the making of one step in the way of perfection The Soul is a pure Spirit and is not felt and so the internal acts and of the will as being the acts of the Soul and spiritual are not sensible Hence the Soul knows not if it liveth nor for most part is sensible if it acteth 36. From this thou mayest infer that that Devotion and sensible Pleasure is not God nor Spirit but the product of Nature that therefore thou oughtest to set light by and despise it but firmly to persevere in Prayer leaving thy self to the conduct of God who will be to thee light in aridity and darkness 37. Think not that when thou art dry and darksom in the presence of God with faith and silence that thou do'st nothing that thou losest time and that thou art idle because not to wait on God according to the saying of St. Barnard Tom. 5. in Tract de vit solit c. 8. p. 90. is the greatest idleness Otiosum non est vacare Deo inimo negotiorum omnium hoc est And elsewhere he sayeth that that idleness of the Soul is the business of the businesses of God. Hoc negotium magnum est negotium 38. It is not to be said that the Soul is idle because though it operate not Actively yet the Holy Ghost operates in it Besides that it is not without all activity because it operates though spiritually simply and intimately For to be attentive to God draw near to him to follow his internal inspirations receive his divine influences adore him in his own intimate center reverence him with the pious affections of the will to cast away so many and so fantastical imaginations and with softness and contempt to overcome so many temptations all these I say are true acts though simple wholly spiritual and in a manner imperceptible through the great tranquillity wherewith the Soul exerts them CHAP. VI. The Soul is not to be disquieted that it sees it self encompassed with darkness because that is an instrument of its greater felicity 39. THere are two sorts of darkness some unhappy and others happy the first are such as arise from sin and are unhappy because they lead the Christian to an eternal precipice The second are those which the Lord suffers to be in the Soul to ground and settle it in vertue and these are happy because they enlighten it fortifie it and cause greater light
perform such excesses of Corporal and External Penance to whom he moves the great love of God which they do conceive in the internal darksom and cleansing retirement of 'em because 't is not good to spend the Body and the Spirit all at once nor break their strength by rigorous and excessive Penances seeing they are weakned by internal mortification For which reason St. Ignatius Loyola said very well in his Exercises That in the cleansing way Corporal Penances were necessary which in the illuminating way ought to be moderated and much more in the unitive 116. But thou wilt say That the Saints always used grievous Penances I answer that they did 'em not with indiscretion nor after their own proper judgment but with the opinion of their Superiours and Spiritual Directors which permitted 'em to use them because they knew 'em to be moved inwardly by the Lord to those rigours to confound the misery of sinners by their examples or for many other reasons Other times they gave 'em leave to use them to humble the fervour of their Spirit and counterpoise their Raptures which are all particular Motives and make not any general Rule for all CHAP. XVI The great difference between External and Internal Penances 117. KNow that the Mortifications and Penances which some one undertakes of himself are light although they may be the most rigorous which hitherto have been done in comparison of those he takes from another's hands because in the first he himself enters and his own will which abate the grief the more voluntary it is whilst at last he doth but that which he is willing but in the second all that is indured is painful and the way also painful in which it is indured that is to say by the will of another 118. This is that which Christ our Lord told St. Peter St. John 21.18 When thou wast young and a beginner in vertue thou girdedst and mortifiedst thy self but when thou goest to greater Schools and shall be a proficient in vertue another shall gird and mortifie theeâ— and then if thou wilt follow me perfectly altogether denying thy self thou must leave that cross of thine and take up mine that is be contented that another crucifie thee 119. There must be no difference made between these and those between thy Father and thy Son thy Friend and thy Brother these must be the first to mortifie thee or to rise up against thee whether with reason or without reason thinking the vertue of thy Soul cheat hypocrisie or imprudence and putting stumbling-blocks in the way of thy holy Exercises This and much more will befall thee if thou wilt heartily serve the Lord and make thy self pure from his hand 120. Hold it for certain that however good those Mortifications and External Penances be which thou shalt undertake of thine own self thou wilt never by those only purchase perfection for although they tame the Body yet they purifie not the Soul nor purge the internal Passions which do really hinder perfect Contemplation and the Divine Union 121. 'T is very easie to mortifie the Body by means of the Spirit but not the Spirit by means of the Body True it is that in Internal Mortification and that of the Spirit it much concerns you for conquering your Passions and rooting up your own Judgment and Self-love to labour even to death without any manner of sparing your self although the Soul be in the highest state and therefore the principal diligence ought to be in Internal Mortification because Corporal and External Mortification is not enough though it be good and holy 122. Though a man should receive the punishments of all men together and do the roughest Penances that ever have been done in God's Church yet if he do not deny himself and mortifie himself with interior mortification he will be far from arriving at perfection 123. A good proof of this truth is that which befel Saint Henry Suson to whom after 20 years of rigorous Hair-cloth Discipline and Abstinence fo great that even to read 'em is enough to make ones hair stand on end God communicated light by means of an Extasie by which he arrived at the knowledge that he had not yet begun and it was in such a manner as that till the Lord mortified him with temptations and great persecutions he never could arrive at perfection his Life chap. 23. Hence thou wilt clearly know the great difference that there is between External and Internal Penances and Internal and External Mortification CHAP. XVII How the Soul is to carry it self in the Faults it doth commit that it may not be disquieted thereby but reap good out of it 124. WHen thou fallest into a fault in what matter soever it be do not trouble nor afflict thy self for it for they are effects of our frail nature stained by Original Sin so prone to Evil that it hath a necessity of a most special Grace and Priviledge as the most holy Virgin had to be free and exempt from Venial Sins Council of Trent Sess 6. Can. 23. 125. If when thou fallest into a fault or a piece of neglect thou dost disturb and chide thy self 't is a manifest sign that secret pride doth still reign in thy Soul didst thou believe that thou could'st not more fall into faults and frailties if God permits some failings even in the most holy and perfect men it is to leave 'em some remnant of themselves of the time that they were beginners to keep 'em more secure and humble it is that they may think always that they are never departed from that state whilst they still keep upon the faults of their beginnings 126. What dost thou marvel at if thou falâ—est into some light fault or frailty humble thy self know thy misery and thank God that he has preserved thee from infinite sins into which thou must have infallibly fallen and wouldst have fallen according to thy inclination and appetite What can be expected from the slippery ground of our nature but stumps bryers and thorns 't is a miracle of Divine Grace not to fall every moment into faults innumerable We should offend all the World if God should not hold his hand continually over us 127. The common enemy will make thee believe that as soon as thou fallest into any fault thou dost not go well grounded in the way of the Spirit that thou walkest in Error that thou hast not in earnest reformed thy self that thou didst not make well the general confession that thou hast not true grief and therefore art out of God and of his favour and if thou shalt sometimes commit again by misfortune a venial fault how many fears frights confusions discouragements and various discourses will the Devil put into thy heart he will represent to thee that thou employest thy time in vain that thou dost just as much as comes to nothing that thy Prayer doth thee no good that thou disposest not thy self as thou oughtest to receive the holy
Contingencies as he communicates these things to other Souls which have constantly gone through Tribulations Temptations and the true Cross in the state of perfect Humility Obedience and Subjection 15. O what a great Happiness it is for a Soul to be subdued and subject what great Riches is it to be Poor what a mighty Honour to be despised what a height is it to be beaten down what a Comfort is it to be Afflicted what a credit of knowledge is it to be reputed Ignorant and finally what a Happiness of Happinesses is it to be Crucified with Christ This is that lot which the Apostle gloried in Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi Gal. 6.14 Let others boast in their Riches Dignities Delights and Honours but to us there is no higher honour than to be denied despised and crucified with Christ 16. But what a grief is this that scarce is there one Soul which despises Spiritual Pleasures and is willing to be denied for Christ imbracing his Cross with love Multi sunt vocati pauci vero electi Matt. 22. says the Holy Ghost many are they who are call'd to perfection but few are they that arrive at it because they are few who imbrace the Cross with patience constancy peace and resignation 17. To deny ones self in all things to be subject to another's judgment to mortifie continually all inward passions to annihilate ones self in all respects to follow always that which is contrary to ones own will appetite and judgment are things that few can do many are those that teach 'em but few are they that practise ' em 18. Many Souls have undertaken and daily do undertake this Way and they persevere all the while they keep the sweet relish of their primitive Fervour but this sweetness and sensible delight is scarce done but presently upon the overtaking of a Storm of Trouble Temptation and Dryness which are necessary things to help a man up the high Mountain of Perfection they falter and turn back a clear sign that they sought themselves and not God or Perfection 19. May it please God that the Souls which have had light and been called to an inward peace and by not being constant in dryness and tribulation and temptation have started back may not be cast into outer darkness with him that had not on him a wedding garment although he was a servant for not being disposed giving himself up to self-love 20. This Monster must be vanquished this seven-headed beast of self-love must be beheaded in order to get up to the top of the high mountain of peace This Monster put his head every where sometimes it gets amongst Relations which strangely hinder with their conversation to which nature easily let 's it self be lead sometimes it gets with a good look of gratitude into passionate affection and without restraint towards the Confessor sometimes into affection to most subtle Spiritual vain-glories and temporal ones and niceties of honour which things stick very close sometimes it cleaves to spiritual pleasures staying even in the gifts of God and in his graces freely bestowed sometimes it desires exceedingly the preservation of health and with disguise to be used well and its own proper profit and conveniences sometimes it would seem well with very curious subtilties and lastly it cleaves with a notable propensity to its own proper judgment and opinion in all things the roots of which are closely fixed in its own will All these are effects of Self-love and if they be not denied impossible it is that a man should ever get up to the height of perfect Contemplation to the highest happiest of the loving Union and the lofty Throne of Peace Internal CHAP. IV. Of two Spiritual Martyrdoms wherewith God cleanseth the Soul that he Unites with Himself 21. NOw you shall know that God uses two ways for the Cleansing the Souls which he would perfect and enlighten to unite 'em closely to himself The first of which we will treat in this and the following Chapter is with the bitter Waters of Afflictions Anguish Distress and inward Torments The second is with the burning Fire of an inflamed Love a Love impatient and hungry Sometimes he makes use of both in those Souls which he would fill with Perfection sometimes he puts 'em into the strong steeping of Tribulations and inward and outward Bitterness scorching 'em with the Fire of rigorous Temptation sometimes he puts 'em into the Crucible of anxious and distrustful Love making 'em fast there with a mighty force because so much the greater as the Lord would have the Illumination and Union of a Soul to be so much the more strong is the Torment and the Purgation because all the Knowledge and Union with God arises from suffering which is the truest proof of Love. 22. O that thou would'st understand the great Good of Tribulation This is that which blots out Sins cleanses the Soul and produces Patience this in Prayer inflames it inlarges it and puts it upon the exercise of the most sublime act of Charity this rejoyces the Soul brings it near to God calls it to and gives is entrance into Heaven The same is that which tries the true Servants of God and renders 'em sweet valiant and constant that is it which makes God hear 'em with speed Ad dominum cum tribularer clamavi exaudivit me Psâ— 119. 'T is that which Annihilates Refines and Perfects 'em and finally this is that which of Earthly makes Souls Heavenly of Humane Divine transforming 'em and uniting 'em in an admirable manner with the Lord's Humanity and Divinity It was well said by St Augustine That the Life of the Soul upon Earth is Temptation Blessed is the Soul which is always opposed if it doth constantly resist Temptation This is the means which the Lord makes use of to Humble it to Annihilate it to Spend it to Mortifie it to Deny it to Perfect it and fill it with his Divine Gifts By this means of Tribulation and Temptation he comes to Crown and Transform it Perswade thy self that Temptations and Fightings are necessary for the Soul to make it Perfect 23. O blessed Soul if thou knowest how to be constant and quiet in the Fire of Tribulation and would'st but let thy self be washed with the bitter Waters of Affliction how quickly would'st thou find thy self rich in heavenly Gifts how soon would the Divine Bounty make a rich Throne in thy Soul and a goodly Habitation for thee to refresh and solace thy self in it 24. Know that this Lord hath his repose no where but in quiet Souls and in those in which the Fire of Tribulation and Temptation hath burnt up the dregs of Passions and the bitter Water of Afflictions hath washed off the filthy spots of inordinate Appetites in a word this Lord reposes not himself any where but where Quietness reigns and Self-love is banished 25. But thou wilt never arrive at this happy State nor
daily why should they be kept from the Medicine that they may not Sin The Council of Milan 3 de Euch. and that of Cabilon Cant. 46. are of the same mind The blessed Pius Quintus says Catech. Rom. 2. p. c. 4. § 60. The Curates are bound to exhort the Faithful often that as they hold it necessary to feed the Body daily so they hold it also necessary to feed the Soul as often with this Sacrament because the Children of Israel did eat Manna in the Wilderness daily and that Manna was the Figure of this sacred Food And that sentence Thou sinnest every day be communicated also every day is not onely St. Augustine's but the saying of all the Saints St. Ignatius Bishop and Martyr Epist ad Eph. exhorts that we often come and receive the Eucharist because the frequency of it weakens the power of Satan The Council of Alexandria says De Euch. c. 5. That without this frequency it will be a hard matter to preserve Grace St. John Chrisostome In Epist S. Paul ad Tim. says It is no rashness for a Christian to come often to the Sacrament he that remembers not a great fault of himself may come to it every day Theophylact In Prim. S. Paul ad Corinth 11. says To know whether thou mayest Communicate be thou the Judge and having examined thy self thou mayest do it without staying for a Festival unless thou findest thy self burthened with a great fault St. Cyprian In Orat. Dom. Serm. 6. says Let us ask this daily Bread being in no great fault let us receive this Bread every day which gives us Life Eternal and let us beg that our Bread which is Christ our Lord may be daily given us to keep us in his Grace No small loss it is to forbear Communicating every day St. Hilary says De Consecrat dist 2. c. 51. If thy Sins are not so grievous as to deserve Excommunication not being mortal if they should be mortal after Confession as Suarez expounds it Disp 60. Sess 3. never keep off from the daily Medicine which is the Body and Blood of the Lord. St. Ambrose says 5 de Sacram. c. 4. Receive daily that which is to help thee daily he that does not deserve to receive it every day doth not deserve to receive it in a whole year Sins are daily committed and therefore this Divine Bread is for every day Thou offendest every day wash thy self therefore of thy Sin every day in the Fountain of Repentance and if thou comest every day to this Divine Sacrament thou wilt find wholesome Medicine and not the Poison of Judgment St. Jerom says In Apol. Cont. Jovin We should always receive the Holy Eucharist that we may be without mortal Sin And in his time which was the Year 470 he says the holy Custom of Communicating every day continued in Rome and in Spain St. Augustine says Tract 26. in Johan If thou comest without Sin come and welcome 't is Bread and not Poyson Again Ep. de verb. Dom. Ser. 28. 'T is better to Communicate for Devotion than let it alone for Reverence And in another place This is the daily Bread receive it daily because it will daily do thee good and thou mayest receive it every day Some ascribe that sentence to the same Father Quotidie Eucharistiae Communionem percipere nec laudo nec reprehendo With which a Bishop reproved S. Catharine of Siena because she took the Sacrament every day and the Saint replied to him How he durst reprove in her that which St. Austine durst not reprove Bellarmine therefore De Script Eccles in the Year 420. says that this sentence is not St. Austine's but Gennadius's of Marseilles and so many other Authors assure us St. Gregory De Conseor d. 2. c. Quid sit Sanguis says The Lord gave us this Salutary Sacrament to pardon our daily Sins let us receive it every day St. Bernard In Serm. de Caena Dom. says The wounded man seeks Medicine we are all of us wounded when we have Sinned our Medicine is the Divine Sacrament receive it daily and thou wilt recover daily St. Apollonius In vitis Patrum ejus vita advised his Monks to be communicated every day that they might be preserved in Grace St. Bonaventure De Praecept Relig. Proces 7. c. 21. Though thou shouldst find thy self luke-warm with little Fervour in thee yet trusting in the Mercy of God thou mayest safely come to the Communion if thou think'st thy self unworthy so that thou remembrest no mortal Sin of thine own come because the weaker thou art the greater need hast thou of the Physitian Thou do'st not receive Christ to sanctify Him but that he may sanctify thee The Council of Alexandria Cap. 5. de Euchar says Without this frequency 't is hard to keep in Grace St. Antony of Florence Par. 3. lib. 14. cap. 12. § 5. 6. says Those that live well must be sure to be advised to receive this most holy Sacrament frequently because as long abstinence from bodily Food weakens the Body and disposes it for Death so the much abstaining from this spiritual Food weakens the Soul spends the fervour and by degrees inclines it to mortal Sin. Pope Adrian In 4 Sent. Tract de Euchar. says When once the preparation is made according to Humane frailty 't is safer to receive than keep from the most Holy Sacrament St. Thomas Aquinas 3 Par. quaest 80. art 10. asks If it be lawful to Communicate every day And answers with St. Austine This is daily Bread receive it every day that thou mayest every day be profited by it St. Isidore Lib. 3. de Eccles Offic. hath this Some say that if there be no Sin the Communion ought to be taken daily and they say well if they receive it with Veneration and Humility St. Anaclete Pope De Conscer dist 1 2. ca. Peracta perceiving Daily Communion grow into disuse brought it up again ordering that after Consecration all those that were present should be communicated because this Custom as he says in a Decree of his was established by the Apostles and kept by the Roman Church and those that did not communicate were turn'd out of the Church Innocent the Third in tract Miss lib. 4. cap. 44. says He may communicate who has his conscience free from mortal sin and is grieved for that which is venial St. Athanasius 1 ad Cor. probit autem having examined thy Conscience always come to the Communion without staying for a holy day Henriquez relates it lib. 8. de Euchar. cap. 88. n. 2. that St. Austin St. Ambrose and St. Jerome do commend those who communicate daily without sin Those that the Confessor shall judge worthy of absolution may be advised by him to receive the Communion though they fear an easie relaps 'T is not necessary to make an experiment of frequent Communion from a man's good and profit by it because spiritual profit which is insensible is much less found than corporal profit Thomas a