the guifts of grace what kind of profit what kind of comfort will it be to haue communication with so many Saints both men and Angells in the guifts of glory O with how much reason is it sayd Psal 23. Blessed are they O Lord who dwell in thy house they shall prayse thee there through the eternity of all eternityes Amen CHAP. XVI Of the fauour which Christ our Lord imparteth to his seruants at the day of Iudgment by giuing them his benediction and communicating his kingdome to them THIS benefit and fauour is followed by another which yet is greater For the good being once separated from the wicked being plac't vpon the right hand of Christ our Lord this celestiall King shall cast towards them his most gracious countenance being all full of suauity and delight And passing his sentence of fauour on them he will say Come yee blessed of my Father The benediction of God is the good guift of God and so to be blessed by him is to be filled withal those good gifts and graces which God communicates to his seruants That is withal those principall benefits which the Saints haue heere on earth when once they are made pure and cleane from all imperfections and withall those others also which the Angells doe possesse in heauen which is more with all those goods graces which the King of heauen himselfe doth possesse and enioy For as S. Iohn affirmeth 1. Ioan. 3. When he shall appeare we shall be made like to Iesus Christ our Lord participating of his power of his beauty of his wisedome of his goodnes of his ioy of his glory He a How grace and glory proceed from God the Father and how also from the other persons of the most B. Trinity calleth them Bl ssed of his Father to declare the fountayne first ofspring from whence all the benefits of grace and glory spring and this is the eternall Father and besides because all that which the Father operateth is also the worke of God the Sonne as he is God as also it is the worke of God the holy Ghost For the Diuinity the Goodnes and the Power is the very same in all the three Persons and to attribute them all to the Father as to the first Authour of all that is good is to offer them also to the Sonne as he is God and it is also to offer them to the holy Ghost who is one God with the Father and the Sonne O happy men who are to receaue such a benediction A benediction giuen by Christ our Lord in the face of heauen and earth of all the creaturs A benediction authorized by all the most Blessed Trinity as the Authour and fountaine of the same A benediction which comprehendes all the chiefe guifts of grace al the guifts of glory A benediction full of benefits vnspeakable most high and truly heauenly which containe all the most chiefe and choice part of heauen A Benediction of eternall benefit A Benediction irreuocable which can neuer be changed as long as God shall be God! O how highly is this benediction to be esteemed O how much is it to be desired procured which maketh men so truely happy as our Lord himselfe declareth saying Come and possesse the kingdome which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world Kingdoms b The great differences which are betweene an earthly a heauenly kingdom dominions you had on earth but temporall kingdoms dominions they were of little valew cōfort or ratherful of miseries whatsoeuer they were they are now growne to an end Laying aside those miserable kingdomes which already are ended come and possesse another kingdome which is celestiall full of incomparable happines a kingdome of infinite value a kingdome which eternally shall contynue And although euery one of you is to be a king of this kingdome and is to raigne and possesse the same yet the kingdom is still but one For all of you are to be subiect and obedient but it is to be with supreme loue to this Soueraigne King in whose company you are to raigne And because all of you are to be of one hart and of one will vnited by most perfect loue in such sort that the blessings belonging to any one in particuler to be of you all so farre forth as to reioyce therin and they of you all to be of euery one to reioyce with them to whome in particuler they belonge this kingdome is also to be but one Yet still though this kingdome be but one you shall all be kings and you all shall raigne For the kingdome is infinite in the greatnes of the felicity which is possest therin and it is infinite also in the contynuance since it is eternall And to the end that you may discerne the altitude of this kingdome and the great affection wher with it is giuen you Behould it hath bene prepared for you since the beginning of the world The election c Of our election to the kingdom of heauen and the preparation which is made for vs toward the same of the inhabitants of this kingdome was made before the world was created for they were chosen and predestinated from all eternity to raigine therin But the preparing of those things which concerne this kingdome and the putting of those meanes in practice which had relation to the obteyning therof did begin at the beginning of the world From that tyme were framed those most sumptuous pallaces those most beautifull habitations and those most glorious seats and thrones where the inhabitants of this kingdom were to liue raigne Then were created and were made happy those first Cittizens of this kingdom which are the Angels who were to keepe men company therin and to augument the glory which men were to possesse in this kingdome And so also from the first begining of the world ther were gifts of graces which came to be communicated to men wherby they were to obteyne this kingdome And for God to create man and withal to communicate iustice grace to him wherby he might procure this kingdome all that was done at once from that tyme to this nothing hath beene done but to dispose and help men giue them meanes that they might come to possesse and perfectly inioy this kingdome in glory both of body and soule This is that most blessed sentence which Christ our Lord will giue in fauour of his seruants that being done he will instantly rayse them vp togeather with himselfe and will inuest them with the most glorious possession of his celestiall kingdome CHAP. XVII Of the felicity which Christ our Lord will communicate to his seruants in the kingdome of heauen LET a A most excellent most sweet most profound yet most plaine description of the ioyes of heauen throughout this whole Chapter vs yet more particulerly cōtemplate the Maiesty of this kingdome which Christ our Lord imparteth to
his seruants and of that felicity which is possest therein to the end that we may gather that fruit which it is fit for vs to feed vpon which is nothing els but the disposing of our selues to the obtayning of this kingdome by an imitation of the vertues of Christ our Lord. And b The place of the kingdome of glory first the scituation and place of this kingdome is that supreme heauen which for the glorious brightnes and splendor which is found therein is called Empyreal The altitude and capacity and beauty admirable designe the grace and suauity of this place though it be such as no tongue of flesh and bloud can declare yet to giue vs to vnderstand some part of that which there is found by a comparison of those thinges which heere we know S. Iohn describes it in the Reuelations after this manner Apoc. 21. 22. He was carryed in spirit to a mountaine which was great and very high and he saw that holy Hierusalem the celestiall Citty full of the clarity of God all built of perfect pure and most resplendent gould like cleane pure glasse It had a wall about it of Iaspar both very thicke and very high the foundations wherof were adorned with pretious stone In this wal were twelue gates and euery one of them was made of a most pretious pearle and that pearle alone did make the gate This Citty had within a very spacious open place all paued with gold most pure most resplendent in the midst of that place there was a riuer of infinite sweetnes A Temple also there was to adorne this Citty and a light to illuminate it and this Temple and Light was God himself and therfore it must needs be farre from hauing any necessity of any other Temple or Light By these wordes S. Iohn describeth the scituation of the Kingdome of heauen and the habitation of the Saints And although it be true that there are not there any of those mettalls of gold or siluer or any of these pretious stones of earth for all these thinges are poore and base and of no valew yet c We who are sensible creatures as well as spirituall must be raised towards spirituall things by such as are sensible and therefore the vse of ceremonyes and Images is very necessary he deliuereth himselfe thus that by those thinges which are the most pretious and beautifull of the earth the soule may rise to consider the greatnes beauty of heauenly thinges vnderstanding euer that those are incomparably better then these And as the whole globe of the heauens is so far exceeding the earth in greatnes that the whole earth is but as a point or in effect as nothing in comparison of the heauens so is it in all the rest as well as in greatnes And all the brightnes and beauty and sweetnes of thinges of this world being compared with those of heauen are as if they had not so much as the least being at all So that the aduantage which the habitation of heauen doth carry beyond this of the earth is such that it exceedeth all comparison For in fine such it is as is fit to be carryed by the house of the Creatour in respect of a creatures house and by the Citty of God in respect of the Citty of men and by that sphere of felicity and eternall ioy in respect of this Center of miseryes and this valley of teares The d Mans supreme happynes consisteth in the vision of God chiefe felicity which is enioyed in this soueraigne Citty by cleare vision is God himselfe His seruantes sayth S. Iohn Apoc. 22. in this Citty of God shal see his face What vnspeakable happines what Abisse what immense kind of sea of all felicity will it be to looke the Diuinity of God in the face without the interposition or interpretation of any creature To e A most sweet explication of the most blessed Trinity see that diuine essence in three persons and three diuine persons in one and the selfe same essence to see the power of the Father the wisedome of the Sonne the goodnes of the holy Ghost To see how the Father from all eternity engenders the Sonne communicating to him his diuinity and how the Father and the Sonne as one the same eternall spring or roote do by spiration giue proceeding to the holy Ghost and communicate their diuine essence to him To see how all the perfection of God is in euery one of the three diuine persons and how al the perfectiō that any one of the diuin persons hath the very same is possessed by either of the other diuine persons What kind of incomparable ioy wil that be so cleerely to behould an infinite Good which is all amiable all ful of infinite beauty of suauity and of delight And not only to see it in some manner which might be lesse excellent but to behould it with the eyes of an incorruptible soule and they most brightly clarifyed by the light of glory euerlastingly to loue it without ceasing that with a most perfect loue and to possesse it with a perpetuity of security After f Of knowledge Loue and Ioy and how they grow out of one another the rate of the knowledge of any thinge growes the loue to be and after the rate of the loue is the ioy for that which is so much beloued and that knowledge which the Saints haue of God being the greatest which can possibly be had since it is the cleare sight of God the loue must also be so great as that greater cannot be conceaued The g The motiues of loue soule is moued to loue a thing which it knowes because it is good because it is beautifull because it is profitable because it is delightfull because it concernes the soule and is after a sort belonging to it And so much more as that thing is good more beautifull more profitable more delightfull more concerning it and more belonging to it so much more doth the soule if it know that thing well and be hindered by no impediment at all delight in it and loue it with a more intense and perfect loue Well then since all these reasons and tytles motiues of loue are found to be in God with infinite perfection and the soule cleerly seeing God and meeting with no impediment which may hinder loue with what loue so intense and so immense will it be sure to loue him By h The riuers of ioy which ouerflow a soule which is in glory seeing that he is infinite goodnes there is ingēdred in the soule a most copious riuer of loue By seeing that he is infinite beauty there is produced in it another most abundant riuer of loue By seeing how full of aduantage it hath bene and is and euer will be to the soule and that in some sorte it is euen infinite there flowes from the soule another riuer of loue so wide and
for the getting of a little money passe through intollerable troubles both by Sea Land and do expose themselues to great danger of death All kind of tradesmen for the getting of a poore liuing do labour and sweat both day and night in their seuerall occupations The souldier for his miserable pay and for a little fume of honour is subiect to extreme inconueniences and runs hazard of his life at euery moment The seruants and Courtiers of great Princes for the obtayning of fauour which yet doe passe and change like any wind depriue themselues of their owne gust and deny their owne will and are hanging day and night vpon that of others and for the giuing of contentment to their Lords they take an aboundance of discontentment disgust to themselues They who are enamoured of this world the couetous for money the intemperate for curious fare the dishonest for that filthy pleasure the proud for that vaine delight in honour and commaund and all of them in fine for the poore cōmodities of this life do suffer greiuous paines and endure excessiue torments and sicknesses and other afflictions which vpon these occasious they incurre as themselues do confesse when the punishment of God shall haue laid their errour before their face And then they will say Sap. 5. We went astray from the way of truth and were estranged from that diuine light and did ouerworke and tyre our selues in the way of sinne and vice and there we endured many difficulties If then the men of this world for the obteyning of most base and transitory riches and of certaine pleasures which are vaine and pernicious both to body and soule for the giuing of contentment to mortall creatures for the yeilding of obedience to those infernall Diuels who perswade them to the loue of earthly things doe ingulfe themselues into such a sea of troubles and breake through such a world of difficultyes what in the name of God will it not be fit for Christians and the seruants of Christ to do for the being faythfull and loyall to that diuine Maiesty and for the exact complying with that obedience loue which they owe him both as to a father and as to a Lord and for the obtayning of the kingdome of heauen the possessing of those immortall riches of the house of God the honour glory of being the sons of God and consequently the ioynt heyres with Christ our Lord of his patrimony Royall and of his euerlasting entaile and for the inioying and that for euer of those incomprehensible delights of his beatitude Certainly it is most iust it is most due that they should vndergo any trouble and ouercome any difficulty and expose themselues to any temporall hazard how greatsoeuer For as the Apostle sayth by way of confirming this truth g 1. Cor. 9. All g This truth confirmed by S. Paul most diuinely excellently pondered by our Author men who striue and fight with others in the place deputed to that end as the vse of the Romains was to do in their entertainements and feasts do for the ouercomming of their opposites abstaine from all those thinges of gust which may be of any impediment to them in their combat as namely from delicate meates from wine from women and the like which are wont to make men dull and weake and they feed vpon grosse meats they obserue the rules of continency and temperance and they prepare and accustome themselues before hand to labour And all this they do to obtayne the reward of winning a corruptible crowne which might perhaps be some Iewell or some suite of clothes or some garland of bayes or flowres or some vaine applause and flying prayse of men What then are we Christians obliged to do in this spiritual contention and strife which we are making against sinne for the obtayning of that crowne of immortality and glory of that celestiall kingdome It is most certain that if for the giuing of contentment to Almighty God and for the obtayning of that eternall and immense beatitude it were necessary to suffer all those pains put togeather which al the men of the world from the beginning of it to the end will haue beene to suffer and which all the holy Martyrs haue endured it were all reason that we should willingly be content to endure them all And if it were necessary not only to suffer all the paines of this life but to endure yea and that for many ages all the torments of hell yea and of many hells it h The ioyes of heauen are more to be desired then euen the paines of hell to be auoyded were most iust fit to endure them all for the obtayning of the kingdome of heauen afterward For greater is the good of the glory of heauen then the euill of the paines of hell And how much then more iust and more conuenient will it be to suffer the payne and difficulty which belongs to vertue and which accompanyeth the fullfilling of Gods commandments Which i How the difficultyes of vertue grow delightfull through the goodnes of God besides that all temporal labour is light since it is so short difficultyes besides that they are short for as much as at the most they last no longer then this life they are with all both light and sweet For the loue of God and the heauenly consolations which he communicateth to his seruants doth make them sweet and the helps and succours of grace which otherwise he giues thē make them light So doe iust persons find this to be by experience as the Apostle confesseth saying 2. Cor. 1. After the rate of the tribulations and afflictions which we suffer for Christ our Lord and whereby we go in imitation of him so do the consolations which are giuen by Almighty God through the vertue and merit of our B. Sauiour increase and copiously abound in vs. If k Consider seriously of the conclusion of this discourse then the labours troubles of this life be on the one side so momentany and so short and on the other so sweet and light and the reward of glory and of that celestial kingdome so eternal and immense and that as our good workes doe grow to be increased so also doth the reward of glory go increasing in such sort as that to euery of our good workes yea l O infinite bounty of God! And are we then in our wits when we be either sinnefull or euen but slouthfull in Gods seruice and to euery one of our desires and euen to euery moment of a life which is lead in state of grace there is a distinct degree of glory which correspondeth what man is that who will not labour for the leading of a vertuous life Who will not be diligent in making resistance to all temptations whatsoeuer Who will not suffer any iniury or paine for liuing well And who will not resolue with strength and courage to perseuere in
we may draw the detestation of sinne the care of leading a good life Chap. X. chapter 11 How a Christian is to draw out of the consideration of the diuine Iudgement a great feare of offending God that so he may fly far from it Chap. XI chapter 12 How it is very necessary ful of profit that a Christian do exercise himselfe in this holy feare accompany it with the exercise of diuine loue Chap. XII chapter 13 Of how great value and merit this holy Feare is Chap. XIII chapter 14 Of the fauours which Christ our Lord will do to the good at the day of Iudgement and of the Ioy which they shall conceaue by seeing the signes which precede that Iudgment and by beholding the glory of the Crosse which shall go before Christ our Lord. Chap. XIV chapter 15 Of the fauour which Christ our Lord will do his seruants at the day of Iudgment by separating them from the wicked Chap. XV. chapter 16 Of the fauour which Christ our Lord imparteth to his seruants at the day of Iudgment by giuing them his benediction and communicating his kingdome to them Chap. XVI chapter 17 Of the felicity which Christ our Lord will communicate to his seruants in the kingdome of heauen Chap. XVII chapter 18 Of other benefits which Christ our Lord cōmunicateth to his seruants in his heauenly kingdome and of the fruit of gratitude which we must gather from the Consideration of this reward Chap. XVIII chapter 19 How all the things of this life which are good and which giue delight do induce vs to a desire of the kingdome of heauen Chap. XIX chapter 20 How from this knowledge concerning the kingdome of Heauen which Christ our Lord will giue his seruants we are to gather a resolute purpose to fly from sinne and to fullfill the Commandments of God and to despise the commodityes of this life Chap. XX. chapter 21 How we are much to animate our selues towardes the exercise of good works considering the great estimation which Christ our Lord doth make of them at the day of Iudgement the reward which he also imparteth to them Chap. XXI THE IVDGE CHAP. I. How the office of being our Iudge doth belong to Christ our Lord as he is man and of the great benefit which God imparteth to vs in giuing him to vs to be our Iudge ALTHOVGH the indignation wrath of Christ our Lord against the wicked and the punishment which he inflicteth vpon their sins do belong to the office which he hath of being a Iudge yet so also doth it belong to him vnder the same Title to doe fauour to such as are Good to defend them to imparte benefites to them and both to expresse mercy towardes them in the Iudgment which he exerciseth vpon their faults to giue thē reward for their good deeds and for this reason it is that I wil declare the benefits and fauours which we obtaine by Christ our Lord in respect that he is our Iudge It a Why it was wholy fit for the second Person of the most holy Trinity to be our Iudg at the last day belongeth to Christ our Lord that he be our Iudge in regard that he is a man and because he tooke the nature of man vpon him as being a most conuenient thing that the Iudge be seene by all such as are to be iudged by him and that the guilty may wel vnderstand and heare the sentence that shal be giuē against them that for as much as men are composed of a body a soule they may perceaue it with their soule and heare it with the senses of their body Now if Christ our Lord as he is only God were to be the Iudge he could not then be seene by the wicked and the sentence which immediatly he should pronounce would not interiourly be perceaued by them and therefore it was fit that he should be our Iudge as man and should passe his Iudgment vpon men that so he might be seene and heard by all This Mystery was discouered to vs by Christ our Lord and Sauiour himselfe whilest he was saying Ioan. 5. The Father iudgeth no man but he hath giuen all iudgement to the Sonne and he gaue him au hority to exercise Iudgement as the sonne of man That is to say Although the eternal Father haue the supreme authority and power of Iudging that to him it doth principally belong to approue reward that which is good as also to reproue and punish that which is euill the same also hath the Sonne and the holy Ghost the same as being one the same God with the Father yet the office of Iudging exteriourly and after a visible manner to be seene in the Tribunall and with the authority Maiesty of a Iudge to giue exteriourly a sentence which may sensibly be perceaued by such as are Iudged this doth only belong to the person of the Sonne of God Who by meanes of the most sacred humanity which he hath immediatly vnited to himselfe by the power which frō all eternity he hath as God and by that which in Tyme was communicated to him as man he is to make this visible and exteriour Iudgment this being an execution of the interiour inuisible Iudgmēt which is made of all the most Blessed Trinity And although this exteriour Iudgment be also ascribed to the Father and to all the Blessed Trinity as to the prime cause of all things yet he who is the immediate executour of this Iudgement is Iesus Christ the Sonne of the liuing God because the sacred Humanity is only vnited immediatly to the person of the Sonne that Humanity doth make this Iudgment as the instrument of Diuinity Now b An vnspeakable benefit of God who gaue vs Christ our Lord for our Iudge an immense benefit and an imcomprehensible mercy it was for God the Father to giue vs Christ Iesus for the Iu ge of our cause as he is man as he is our brother and our Sauiour If a delinquent were in prison for greiuous Crymes deseruing death and that he had a brother who most tenderly loued him and esteemed him and did so much desire his liberty and his good that to deliuer him out of prison and from death he had spent his fortune and had exposed himselfe to many troubles and euen to the hazard of death and if the king should assigne that brother of the party for the Iudge of his cause with Soueraigne power to Iudge him without appeale what kind of fauour what clemency would it be which heerin should be vsed towards that man How full of ioy and comfort would he be vpō the naming of such a Iudge How confident and secure would he make himself that the sentence would be full of pitty and as fauourable to him as possible his cause might beare Well therfore since all men according to the c From which Christ our Lord his B. Mother
deepe as that it hath neither bottom nor brim By seeing that it is an infinite delight and sweetenes and that it concernes the soule so much and that she doth so dearly truly belong vnto it and that it is her creator her father her God and that all her being depends vpon it there is also created in the soule another most copious and most abundant riuer of loue and all these riuers of loue meeting then in one the soule of euery Saint in heauen growes to haue in it an vnbridled boundles Sea of loue He that i Be still attentiue loues a thing doth wish it well if he may see the good he wishes it giues him ioy and the more he loues and the more he desires and the greater that the good is so much the greater is the ioy Now thē since the Saints in heauen do loue God with a whole boundlesse Sea of loue and seeing that he possesseth all the good which they can wish as namely that he is God himselfe and that together with God he is infinitely happy who can say what delight who can say what ioy they shall receiue since it is bound to be great according to the rate of their loue Infallibly they shall possesse a whole immense Sea of diuine ioy an immense Sea shall they possesse of celestiall and supreme delights This is that delight and ioy which the soule receiues from God himselfe being an infinit good when once she is possest of a cleare vision of him and that by loue O k Infinit ioy ioy which ouercomest all ioy O ioy which imbracest all our good O ioy without lymit O eternall ioy O ioy which art the euer running fountaine of al ioyes O ioy which knowest how to satisfy all the desirs and canst fill vp all the hollowes and empty places of the soule Matt. 25. and dost possesse whatsoeuer we shall euer be able to think To this ioy doth Christ niuite al his faithfull seruants this doth he giue them in reward of their vertue saying Reioyce O thou good faithfull seruant enter into the ioy of thy Lord. Another l The vnspeakable ioy which they shall haue by seeing the the most glorious humanity of Christ our Lord. felicity which the blessed soules shall haue is to behold the most glorious humāity of Christ our Lord and to enioye it and to see him euen as he is man in so excessiue Greatnes and Maiesty and glory And to see him withal so amiable and so affable so deerly sweet towards all those happy soules and to see that that Lord who is man as they are and who with his passion and death did for the loue he bare them redeeme them from eternall damnation the same man I say is the infinite and eternall God O how will they loue that most sacred humanity which loued them so much which did and suffered so great things for them O how will they reioyce to see that humāity so mightily sublymed and vnited by an incomprehensible manner to the person of the Word O how wil they glory in his felicity O what delight sweetnes wil they receiue from such a sight and from such a loue For as the prophet saith Isa 33. They shall see the king in his beauty Another m It wil be an inestimable ioy to see how infinitly God loueth them supreme felicity for those happy soules shal be to see the loue which God carries towards them and wherwith the eternall father did from all Eternity loue and choose them did in Tyme bestow his Sonne vpon them and deliuer him ouer to death for them and to see that this loue in it selfe is infinite and the very same wherewith God loues himselfe The n This truth is proued by a fit comparison seruant of a King will much esteeme that the king do him fauour bestowing some important place vpon him in his house with good prouision belonging to it But much more will he esteeme it and much more contentment cōfort will he receiue to see himselfe beloued by that king and that he is a fauorite of his And thogh he haue but some coniectures of this loue and that it may easely be cooled and changed into a disaffection yet doth he neuertheles esteem it more then all the other fauours which the king doth him For by louing him he giueth him his hart which is incomparably more then if he gaue him a part of his fortune What then will a Saint in glory feele in himselfe when he shal see that he is so beloued by God and although the benefits which God hath done him are very great yet the loue he beares him is much greater and although they are most precious benefits which there he is enioying by the guyft of God yet much more pretious is the loue For this loue is the root fountaine of all the benefites and guiftes and graces which he hath cōmunicated nay this loue is euen very God himselfe Now then to knowe this loue of God not by coniecture but by seeing it expresly in God with as great clarity as that wherewith he seeth God himselfe and still to see with the same clarity that this loue cannot be lost no nor changed but that for euer it shall remaine inuariable with the selfe same permanency wher with the truth of God himselfe shal remain of which truth it is sayd Psal 116. that it shall remaine for euer O how highly wil the Blessed esteeme value this loue of God! O how imcomparable ioy will they receiue to see thēselues so beloued by God! When loue is great it hath this property power that by the band of the same loue it makes o Of the vnion of seuerall things which is made by loue him that loues become the same thing with him that is beloued and that he lodgeth his whole hart in him that with the chaynes of loue he becomes imprisoned and euen captiued by him who is beloued that he depend wholy vpon him willing that which he wills and communicating to him all his goods Now then since the Blessed soules knowing that this is the property of intense loue and seeing themselues so beloued by God with this loue which hath no measure nor had no beginning nor will haue end what kind of immense incomparable ioy wil this be to them Without all question except the ioy which they shall haue in the felicity of God whome they loue more then themselues this other is their greatest ioy to see themselues so beloued by him who is omnipotent and who is infinite beauty and glory and the infinite fountaine of all Good Of this Loue God himselfe giueth testimony saying by the Prophet Hieremy Hier. 33. With eternall loue I haue loued thee and therefore did I in tyme shew mercy to thee and I called and drew thee to my friendship and glory CHAP. XVIII Of other benefits which Christ
and deny what he will meere opinion before the Iudgement of that Church which is is still to be instructed and taught by the holy Ghost And this sinne is of so high a nature as that vnlesse it be remoued by pennance the man in whome it liues shall No heretike without repentance can be saued dye a double death and neuer behould the face of God howsoeuer he may otherwise seeme to be a person of most holy life so ful of Charity as to sell his state and giue it all to the poore and of so valiant and Christian a hart as amongst Infidels to suffer death torments for the name of Christ For to proue that euen this will not serue the turne of an Heretike towards saluation see heere the authority of the greatest Fathers of the church coÌ„cerning this point Who The practise of the primitiue Church in this point See S. Aug. ad Quod-vult Deum the Catalogues of S. Irenaeus and S Epiphanius besids that in the way of practice the Church of their tyme did coÌ„demne many men for Heresy who held though it were but one point of doctrine in contrariety to the Catholike Church and somtymes of some such doctrine as in it selfe did not seeme to be of most importance they do also declare and that in most cleere and constant words in what certainty of damnation they are who dy in any Heresy at all Whosoeuer saith S. Cyprian D. Cypr. epist in Anton. what kinde of person soeuer a man be a No heretike is a Christian any more then only in name Christian he is not vnâ—es he be in the Church of Christ And againe Idem de vnit Eccles He belongs not to the rew rd of Christ who forsakes the Church of Christ such a one is an alien he is a prophane person he is an enemy And to this effect he also sayth if such an one should euen giue his life for the confession of the name of Christ he should yet by the Iudgement of this holy Father be condemned to the flames of Hell for his Heresy and not be receiued to the ioyes of heauen for his constancy he expresseth himself in these words Non esset illi corona fidei sed poena perfidiae S. Hierome in like manner speaking of the Church of Rome affirmeth it to be D. Hier. epist ad Dam. l. 2. The true house of Christ and that whosoeuer eateth the lambe out of that house is a prophane person and that vnles he be found in that Arke of Noe he shall be ouerwhelmed and perish in the floud S. Augustine doth also abound euery where in the profession of this truth D. Aug. tom 7. super gest câ—…m Emer vlt. med A man sayth he cannot obtaine saluation but in the Catholike Church he may haue all except saluation he may haue honour he may haue the sacrameÌ„ts he may sing Alleluia he may answere Amen he may belieue the Ghospell he may be baptized in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost but no where can he haue saluatioÌ„ but in the Catholike Church D. Augu. tom 7. de vnit Eccl. vlt. med No man cometh saith he to saluation and life eternall but he that hath Christ for his head and no man can haue Christ for his head who is not in his body which is the Church Idem tom 3. de fide symb Heretikes by belieuing falsely of God do violate the faith and Schismatikes by their wicked dissentions flye of from fraternall charity although they belieue as we do And therefore neither doth the Heretike belonge to the catholike Church because he belieueth not God nor the Schismatike because he loueth not his Neighbour Let The schismatik hath no Charity and the Heretike hath neither Charity nor Fayth Idem tom 7. de Bapt. cont Don. l. 4. c. 18. vs suppose that a man were chast and contynent not couetous no worshiper of Idolls but full of hospitality no enemy to any man nor contentious but patient quiet not emulating or enuying any body but sober and frugall but yet withall that he were an heretike and there can no doubt be made but No Heretike can be saued though he be neuer so vertuous otherwise Idem tom 4. l. 1. de serm Do. in monte c. 9. that for this only That he is an Heretike he shall not possesse the kingdome of heauen It is not sayd alone Blessed are they who suffer persecution but these words are added for iustice sake Now where No heretike or schismatike can be a Martyr Tom. 1. de fide ad Petrum c. 39. true Fayth is not there can be no Iustice because the Iust man liues in Fayth Neither yet set Schismatikes promise themselues any thing thereby because where there is no Charity neither can there be any Iustice For Charity towards ones Neighbour doth worke no euill which Charity if they did possesse they would not teare the body of Christ which is his Church Belieue Some doubt whether this book be of S. Augustin or of S. Fulgentius who liued within 40. yeares after S. Augustine most firmely and haue no manner of doubt but that euery Heretike and Schismatike though baptized in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost if he returne not to the Catholike Church how great Euen the giuing al in alms and suffering death for the name of Christ wil not deliuer an heretique from damnation Almes soeuer he distribute yea and though he shed his bloud for the name of Christ he can by no meanes be saued For neither Baptisme nor most liberall almes nor death endured for the name of Christ can auaile any man to saluation who holdeth not fast the vnity of the Catholike Church and so long as any How small soeuer that be hereticall or schismaticall iniquity which leadeth men to destruction remayneth in him These are they amongst many others whome God hath giuen to his Church as lightes whereby all good Christians may be guided towardes their saluation and take heed thou be not so miserable as to follow any ignis fatuus insteed of them for thy error in this life will import thee no lesse then thy eternall damnation in the next FAVLTS escaped in the Printing Page Line Fault Correction â—… 10. intention attention â—… vlt. fo of â—… 1. interiourly exteriourly â—… 12. he is to make deleatur he â—…9 10 vnanswerable vnanswerably â—… 3. to friend to that friend â—… 13. and for zeale and zeale of â—… 1. whither wither â—… 7. for thus for this â—…8 13. infinity infinite â—…9 13. guifts gusts â—… 14. 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