necessary for the poore sustenance of theyr exhausted bodyes which they mortify with great abstinences watchings and other austerityes that they may bring them into subiection and roote out as much as may bee the very fewell of concupiscence and passions and hauing of their owne accorde barred themselues of all propriety of disposing of thēselues in any action and renounced euen the freedome of their will and thus in somme hauing taken an eternall farewell of all the ioyes and delights that this world can afford and that carnall mē would be so loath to forgoe for any litle while yet by the internall ioyes that they find in their prayer and cōtemplation vnto which all these actions of retrenchment from superfluities or outward solaces doe serue as a ladder to ascend vnto the topp of it they liue so happily and cheerfully and with such tranquillity of minde and vpō occasions say so much of the ouerflowings of theyr blisse as it is apparant they inioy there the hundred-fold that Christ promised in this life Nor can it be obiected that men vsually betake themselues to this course of Religious life vpon being distempered by melancholy or for the ill successe and trauerses they haue had in affayres of the world or out of simplicitie and weakenesse of vnderstanding since it is euident that this Angelicall forme of liuing hath euer beene best practised by persons of the best cōposed and cheerfullest dispositions and by multitudes of such is and hath bene imbraced and that in the world ouerflowed with all the blessings it could afford them and were of strongest parts of vnderstanding and iudgement and were most eminent in learning So that it is apparent they had no other motiue thereunto but purely the loue of God and feruour of deuotion which being an effect of the holy Ghost residing in their heartes to his inspirations and admirable wayes of working in those his temples of flesh and blood these extraordinary effects are to be imputed Whereas on the other side noe such exāples or surpernaturall forme of life are to be mett withall in any other Church whatsoeuer Rather they disclaime from them and like men of this world which is the expression that Christ vseth in the Gospell to designe those that are not of his Church not being able to discerne things of the spiritt but being blinded with the luster of them too great for their weake eyes they neglect and disdayne them and imagine that all Christian perfection consisteth in an ordinary humane morall life which is the vttermost periode that any among them seeke to attaine vnto And therefore we may hence cōclude that they haue no interiour worker among them more sublime then their owne humane discourses and iudgements and that supernaturall sāctity an effect of the holy Ghost is confined only to the Catholicke Church Besides we may obserue by dayly experience how those persons that addict thēselues to such an extraordinary way of life doe absolutly proue ether the best or the worst of mankinde the one excelling in admirable piety feruour of denotion abstraction and sanctity of life and some of them soaring vp to a pitch euen aboue nature the other abounding in all sorts of impiety wickednesse and dissolution of manners till at length theire hearts become euen hardened against correction and all sense of spirituall things whereas it ordinarily happeneth that the most flagitious men among those who liue in a vulgar wordly estate of life doe vpon occasions frequently receaue notable impressions from diuine obiects to the amendement and change of their dissolute course And this being a constant and certaine effect noted at all tymes and in all places it must be attributed to a cōstant and powerfull cause which can be noe other thē the neere approaching of those persons to the originall fontaine of sainctity and goodnesse which being like a consuming fire worketh vehement effects in them according to the disposition they are in and to the neerenes that they haue vnto that fire so that as the sunne beames which are the authors of life and foe cundity to all plants and vegetables shinning vpon a tree that hath taken soide rootes in the earth maketh it budd flourish and beare fruit and on the other side if it bee weakely rooted their heate and operation vpon that tree maketh it the sooner to wither and die And as the fyre sendeth an influence of heate into a pott of water that is symply applyed vnto it but if that pott be sett in a vessell of snow or ice and so be held ouer the fire it driueth vnto the center the cold of the snowe formerly diffused with out and in a very short space turneth that water into ice which else might haue stayed there long enough without congealing in like manner they who being rooted in charity approach to that dinine sunne doe flourish and bring fourth excellent ād ofttymes supernaturall fruites of deuotion feruor and sanctitye butt those who haue depraued affections soe inuironing the rootes of theyr hearts as that the soyle of charity cānott introduce her nourishing sappe into them and whose soules are compassed in with the ice of sensuality and carnall cogitations if they come within the beames of this holy sunne or within the heate of this sanctifying fire they doe but wither a way the sooner and their hearts grow daily more and more to be ice till at lēgth like that of Pharao amidst the wonderous workes of the lord happy to others they become miserable and stony And againe we see that those who hauing addicted themselues wholy to such a course of Seraphy call life and that being allwayes vehemently intent to the loue and contemplation of the prime verity and that hauing no other obiect for their actions or thoughts doe thereby as wee may reasonably conceaue approach neerest to God allmighty and drawe immediatly from him who is the fonntaine of light and truth strongest emanations and cleerest influences to illustrate their vnderstanding and enflame their affections those persons I say haue euer beene most earnest in the maintenāce of those points of the Romane doctrine which are most repugnant to sense as in particular of that of the reall presence of Christs body in the blessed Sacrement vnto which all other Sacrements and acts of faith and deuotion are reduced and adore them with greatest reuerence and are enflamed with feruentest deuotion vnto them And therefore wee may conclude that this confidence religiousnesse and feruour proceedeth from hēce that these men and such among them as cannot be suspected for simplicity ignorance or sinister ends are thus cōfirmed in this faith and are thus sett on fire with this deuotion more vigorously and vehemētly then ordinary secular men by the immediate working and inspiration of the holy Ghost from whose streames it is likely they drinke purer and cleerer waters and neerer the well head then other men of a more worldly and vulgar conuersation And it were not agreeable to the
Conference with a Lady about choice of Religion Printed at Paris 1638. MADAME My being conscious to my selfe how confusedly and intricately I haue deliuered my conceptions vnto your ladyshippe vpon the seuerall occasions of discourse we haue had together concerning that important subiect of what faith and religiō is the true one to bring vs to eternall happinesse wherein your Ladyshipp is so wisely and worthily inquisitiue and sollicitous hath begotten this following writing in the which I will as nere as I can summe vp the heads of those cōsiderations I haue somtimes discussed vnto you in conuersation And I will briefely and barely lay them before you without any long enlargement vpon them as haueing a better opinion of the reflections that your Ladyshipps great vnderstanding and strong reasoning soule will by your selfe make vpon the naked subiect sincerely proposed then of any commentary I can frame vpon it And indeed such discourses as these are deeper loked into whē they are pōdered by a prudentiall iudgement then when they are examined by scientificall speculations But with your leaue I shall take the matter a little higher then where the chiefe difficulty seemeth to be at which your Ladyshipp sticketh conceiuing that if we begin at the roote and proceede on steppe by steppe we shall find our search the easyer and the securer and our assent to the conclusions we shall collect wil be the more firme and vigorours We will therfore begin with considering why faith and Religion is needfull to a man before we determine the meanes how to find out the right faith for that being once setled in the vnderstāding we shall presently without further dispute reiect what Religiō soeuer is but proposed that hath not those proprieties which are required to bring that to passe that Religion in its owne nature aymeth at And this must be done by taking a suruey of some of the operations of a human soule and of the impressions made in it by the obiects it is conuersant withall 1. Your Ladyshipp may be pleased thē to cōsider in the first place That it is by nature ingrafted in the soules of all mankinde to desire beatitude By which word I meane an intire perfect and secure fruition of all such obiects as one hath vehement affections vnto without mixture of any thing one hath auersion from For the soule haueing a perpetuall actiuity in it must necessarily haue something to entertaine it selfe about and according to the two chiefe powers of it which are the vnderstanding and the will it employeth it selfe first in the search and inuestigatio of what is true and good and then according to the iudgement it maketh of it the will followeth and with affectiōs graspeth at it which if it happen to seize vpon the soule is at content and at rest but if it misse it is vnquiet and laboureth with all vehemence to compasse it and if any thing happen that is repugnant to the nature of it it vseth all industry and efficacious meanes to ouercome and banish it so that all the actions and motions of it tend to gaine contentment and beatitude 2. In the next place you may please to consider that this full beatitude which the soule thirsteth after cannot be enioyed in this life For it is apparent that intellectuall goods as sciēce contemplation and fruition of spirituall obiects and contentments in theire owne nature are the chiefe goods of the soule and affect her much more strongly and violently thē corporall and sensuall ones can doe for they are more agreeable to her nature ād therfore moue her more efficaciously when they are duely relished But such intellectuall goods cannot be perfectly relished and inioyed as long as the soule is immersed in the body by reason that the sensuall appetite maketh continuall warr against the rationall part of the soule and in most men mastereth it and in the perfectest this earthly habitation doth soe drawe downe and clogge and benumme the noble inhabitant of it which would allwayes busie it selfe in sublime contemplations as it may be sayd to be but in a iayle whiles it resideth heere And experience cōfirmeth vnto vs that the sparkes of knowledge we gaine heere are not pure but haue the nature of salt water that increaseth the thirst in them who drinke most of it and we swallowe the purest streames like men in a dropsie who the more they drinke are still the greedier of more Therfore to haue this greedinesse of knowing satisfied and to exercise the powers of our soule in the pure and abstracted contemplation of truth and in the sincere fruiction of spirituall obiects we must haue patience vntill she arriue vnto an other state of life wherein being separated from all corporall feces impediments and contradictions she may wholly giue herselfe vp to that which is her naturall operation and from whence resulteth her true and perfect delight Besides euen they who haue attayned to the greatest blessings both inward and outward that this world can afforde yet are farr from being completely happy for that state admitteth noe mixture of the contrary which who was euer yet free from were his fortune neuer so specious The very feare of loosing them that must allwayes necssarily accompagny those blessings is such a spoonefull of gall to make their whole draught bitter as that alone must needes take of the edge and vigour of the contentment that else they might enioy How little can any man relish the obiects of delight which with neuer so great affluence beset him round about when he knoweth a sharpe and heauy sword hangesh by a slender thread ouer his head and at length must fall and euer after seuer him from them A litle distemper an accidentall feauer and ill mingled draught such a one as the miracle of witt and learning Lucretius mett withall is enough to turne the braines of the wisest man that is and in a few houres to blott out all these notions he hath bin all his life labouring to possesse himselfe of and to render him of a more abiect and despicable condition then the meanest wretch liuing that hath but the common vse of reason The Genius that presideth ouer human affaires delighteth in perpetuall changes and variation of mēs fortunes so that he who late sate enthroned in greatest dignity is all of a suddaine precipitated head-long vnto a condition most opposite therunto he that but yesterday had all his ioyes enlarged and swelled vp to their full height by the communication of a perfect and entire friend without which can there by any true ioye hath to day lost the comfort of all that the world can afford him by the irrecouerable losse of that one friend In a word death growing dayly vpon him and encroaching vpon his outworks and by houres reducing him into a narrower circle at leingth seizeth vpon himselfe and maketh an eternall diuorce betweene him and what was dearest to him heere 3. Our next consideration then shall be to
discouer what will result out of our swifte passadge through this vayle of miseries and what impressions we shall carry with vs out of this pilgrimage since we cannot suspect it is aiourney assigned vs in vaine being the ordinary and naturall course prescribed by the wise author of nature to all mankinde and the ineuitable through-fare for euery man in particular Therfore to proceed on in this methode our third conclusion shall be that what soeuer iudgemēt the soule once frameth in this life that iudgement and that affection will perpetually remaine in the soule vnlesse some contrary impression be made in it to blot it out which only hath power to expell any former one For iudgements and affections are caused in a man by the impression that the obiects make in his soule and all that any agent aymeth at in any operation whatsoeuer be it neuer so forcible in action is but to produce a resemblance of it selfe in the subiect it worketh vpon and therefore it excludeth nothing that it findeth formerly there which in our case is the soule vnlesse it be some such impression as is incompatible with what it intendeth to effect there or that the subiect is not large enough both to retayne the old and receaue the new in which case the first must be blotted out to make roome for the latter But of iudgements and affections none are incōpatible to one another but those that are directly opposite to one another by contradiction Therfore only such haue power to expell one another and all that are not such are immediatly vnited to the very substāce of the soule which hauing an infinite capacity it can neuer be filled by any limited obiects whatsoeuer so that they alwayes reside in the soule although they doe not at all tymes appeare in outward act which proceedeth from hence that new and other images are by the fantasie represented to the soule and she seemeth to busy herselfe onely about what she findeth there which being but one distinct Image at a tyme for corporall organs haue limited comprehensions and are quickly filled with corporall species she therupon seemeth to exercise but one iudgement or but one affectiō at a tyme. But as soone as the soule shall be released out of the body which is like a darke prison to wall it in then she will at one and the same instant actually knowe and loue all those things she knewe and loued in the body with only this difference that her knowledges will then be much more distinct and perfect and her affections much more vehement then they were in this life by reason that her coniunction heere with resistent matter was a burden and a clogge vnto her and hindered the actiuitie and force of her operations The difference of these states may in some measure be illustrated by a grosse ād materiall exāple Represent vnto your selfe a man walled vp in a darke tower that is so close as noe ayre nor light can come into it excepting only at one little hole and that hole too affordeth no cleare and free passage to the sight but hath a thick and muddy glasse before it Now if this man would looke vpon any of the obiects that are about this tower he must gett them to be placed ouer against that hole vnto which he must lay his eye and then he can discerne but one at a time and that but dimmely nether and if he will see seuerall bodies it must be by so many seuerall iterated actes as they are in number But suppose some Earthquake or exteriour violence to breake a sunder and throwe downe to the ground the wals of this tower leauing the man vntouched and vnhurt then at one instant and with one cast of his eyes he beholdeth distinctly clearly ād at ease all those seuerall obiects that with so much labour and tyme he tooke but a mistakinge suruey of before 4. The fourth consideration shall be that after the first instant wherein the soule is separated from the body she is then in her nature no longer subiect or liable to any new impression mutatiō or chāge whatsoeuer For that which should cause any such effect must be ether a materiall or a spirituall agent But a materiall one cannot worke vpon it for that requireth quantitie in the patient whereby it may be applyed unto it to exercise its operation vpon it Nor cā any spirituall agēt cause any succession of new alteration But all that spirits worke one vpō another is done at once and at one instant which we shall discerne the clearer by examining the reason why there is succession and tyme taken vp in the alteratiōs that are wrought amongst materiall things for in them by reason of their quantity that causeth an extention and distance of the parts the agent allthough it haue neuer so much disposition and efficacy to worke must haue his seuerall parts applyed to the seuerall parts of the patient by locall motion which requireth tyme for the performance thereof And besides euen in the agent it selfe the grossenesse ād heauinesse of the matter giueth an allay and is a clogge to the actiuity of the forme and as it were pulleth it backe whiles it is in action But this is not so in spirituall substances and therfore we may conclude that among them in the same instant that the agent is disposed to worke the action is performed for on his part there is nothing to retarde it nor is there required any locall motion which should take vp tyme and likewise by the same reason in the very instant that the patient is disposed to receiue any impression it is wrought in it And thus allthough there were neuer so many agents and euery one of them to performe neuer so many actions they would be all done and ended in one and the same instant 5. The next consideration shall be that those persons who in this world had strong and predominant affections to sensible and materiall obiects and dyed in that state shall be eternally miserable in the next for by what we haue sayed it appeareth that those affections will eternally remaine in the soule and that after the separatiō of it from the body they can neuer be blotted out of it or changed And the affections of a separated soule are much more ardent and vehement then whiles it is in the body But it is impossible they should euer attayne in that state to the fruitiō of what they so violently couet and loue and yet for its sake they neglect all other goods whatsoeuer that they might haue whose beauty and excellēcy notwithstanding they plainly discerne they cannot choose therfore but execrate themselues for their fondly misplaced yet thē eternally necessary affecctions and pine awaye if so I may say with perpetuall anguish and despaire of what they so impatiently and enragedly desire and ueuer can obtayne 6. The sixt consideration shall be that to be happy in the next life one must not settle their predominant
affections vpon any creature whatsoeuer or any good that we can naturally attayne to the knowledge of in this life For what naturall good soeuer we loue or enioy here we must by death be diuorced from and as we haue sayd before that separation will cause perpetuall sorrow because the affections remaine vnchāgeable And allthough we should place our felicity in naturall knowledge or any other intellectuall good whatsoeuer yet that cannot satisfy the desires and fill the capacity of the soule though it be neuer so perfectly enioyed for they are infinite and this can be collected but out of particular obiects for the whole created vniuerse is but so and therfore they hold on proportiō together but the soule haueing nothing else to fill it withall allthough it should not be tormented with the former mentioned corrosiues of preposterous affections yet it cānot be at rest and quiet and the thirst of it satisfied by that dropp of water in comparison of the vehement ardor of it And thus it followeth that ether man was not created for a determinate end and for a state conuenient for his nature and able to satisfie the originall appetences of his soule or at the least no mā can by naturall meanes arriue to the end and period of happinesse 7. But now to proceede in the pursuance of this method of reasoning and to follow hence forward the conduct of a supernaturall guide since nature quitteth vs here haueing lead vs on as long as she was able to see we may in the seauenth place consider that God when he created man did not assigne him to remaine in the state of pure nature but did out of his goodnesse and liberality conferre something vpō him that exceeded the sphere of his nature For else the first part of the preceedent consequence would follow which were not only impious but absurd to say to whosoeuer considereth the infinite goodnesse wisedome and omnipotency of God For as heate being essentiall to fire cannot but produce heate in whatsoeuer it application vnto so God being in his owne essence goodnesse it selfe cannot chose but doe vnto whatsoeuer proceedeth from him all that good which the nature of it is capable of whether by naturall or supernaturall meanes and his wisedome can readily contriue the meanes to bring that to passe which his goodnesse disposeth him to doe And his omnipotency as easily acteth what his other two attributes haue proiected so that there wanting an infinit obiect to satisfy the infinite capacity of the soule and without which she must be eternally miserable it remayneth that he who gaue that capacity must allso afforde the obiect and assigne meanes how to compasse and gaine it All which we haue allready proued is out of the reach of nature to discerne and therfore it followeth of consequence that the author of nature must endowe man with some supernaturall giftes if he be in a fit disposition to receaue them which may bring him to the supernaturall end he was created for 8 Our eight conclusion shall be that of these supernaturall giftes the first and the ground and foundation of all the rest is faith For we haue allready determined that we cannot by any naturall meanes attaine to the knowledge of any obiect that may render vs completely happy in the next life And yet such knowledge must be had to the end that we may direct our actions to gaine the fruition of that obiect Therfore there is no way left to compasse this but by the instructions and discipline of some Master whose goodnesse and knowledge we can no wayes doubt of by which two perfections in him we may be secure that he nether can be deceaued himselfe nor will deceaue vs. Now the docctrine that such a Master shall teach for such an ende we call faith 9. In the ninth place we must determine that this Master must be God and man For first by our discourse vpon naturall principles we haue proued that to auoide misery in the next life we must deny our senses the content and satisfaction that they naturally desire in corporall things and that we must withdrawe our affections from all materiall obiects And next we haue collected that the obiect which we must know and loue to be happy doth exceede the reach and view of any created vnderstanding to discerne Therfore we may safely conclude that this doctrine ought to be deliuered vnto vs originally by God himselfe For after the first branch which is of withdrawing our affections from sensible goods allthough out of naturall principles that doctrine is to be collected yet that is not a sufficient meanes to settle mankinde in generall in the beliefe of it For the discourse that proueth it is such an abstracted one as very few are capable of it being that it requireth both a mature age to be able to reason so before which tyme many dye and likewise strong and vigoroux powers of the vnderstanding which we see more doe want then are indowed withall And besides of those that haue both yeares and capacity to wielde such thoughts there are so few that are not in a manner forced away from such interiour recollections by their particular vacations and the naturall necessities they are obliged vnto as to beate it out by themselues is not a sufficient meanes to serue mankind in this case And to thinke that those few who haueing great partes may with much labour haue attayned to the knowledge therof should instruct others that are simpler and are taken vp by other imployments and courses of life were very irrationall since no man be he neuer so wise is such but may be deceiued and then how can it be expected that another man should without sensible demonstration belieue his single word in a matter so cōtrary to sense and wherein he must forgoe so great contentments and present vtility And for the other branch which is in the instructing mankinde concerning the right obiect that he is to know and loue to be happy that is alltogether out of the reache of any man whatsoeuer by himselfe to discouer and therfore much lesse can he in his owne name instruct others therin And if any man should goe about to doe so and to introduce a new doctrine of faith not formerly heard of drawing the arguments for confirmation therof onely out of his owne ratiocination and discourse that alone were enough to conuince him of falsehoode since he should thereby vndertake to know what were impossible for him of himselfe to attayne to the knowledge of Therfore it is necessary that the author of the doctrine we must belieue the instructor of the actions we must performe and the promiser of the happinesse we may hope for be God himselfe who onely knoweth of himselfe what is sayed in matters of these natures and who onely is nether liable to be deceiued nor can deceiue others as being the prime verity it selfe But because the weakenesse of our intellectuall nature is such whiles
experience and demonstration as he were not a rationall man that should refuse his assent vnto them And consequently he would incurre the like cēsure that should not yield credēce to faith in this manner proposed vnto him In the proofe of this conclusion I must vse two wordes appropriated to philosophy to wit matter and forme which is contrary to my intention at the first which was to abstaine from all termes of artificiall learning and make onely a familiar discourse that should require no preceedent helpe of study but onely a cleere and strong iudgement such as yours is to weigh the strength of the reason Butt I am the lesse srcupulous to auoide these words because I know your La vnderstandeth what is meaned by them and they haue often occurred in our discourses To come then to the examination of this cōclusiō I say that faith dependeth on these two propositions first that whatsoeuer God sayth is true Next that God sayd this whatsoeuer it be that is deliuered thus by the tradition of the Church For the former of these assertions there is noe doubt made by any side since all agree that God being the prime verity whatsoeuer proceedeth immediatly frō him must necessarily be more infallible then any collections made from creatures ether by experience or ratiocination of men The second assertion I shall allso proue to be more infallible then any such collections in this manner Among materiall things that are subiect to tyme and place and are here in the sphere of contraries and of action and passion although the lawes that gouerne them are in the generall certaine else no science could be acquired of them yet in the particular they are subiect to contingency and defection from those lawes which contingency doth proceed from the resistence of the matter and the contagion and leprosy if so I may say that the matter infecteth the forme withall which were it not for that would allwayes constantly worke the same effect in all ocasions and according as the forme hath in particular more or lesse predominance ouer the matter the contingency and defect in them from the true nature of that body considered in his perfection is the greater or the lesser Lett vs illustrate this by an example According to the ordinary doctrine of Philosophers in the Schooles we collect by many particular experiences that the nature of fire proceedinge from the forme of it is to ascend and of them we frame a generall doctrine that fire is the lightest of all the elements and that his naturall place is aboue them all yet we see that when the forme of fire is introduced into grosse and terrestriall matter it is wrested from his owne naturall inclination and is forced in steed of ascendind then to descend as when wood iron earth-coale and such other terrestriall matter is sett on fire And it is more or lesse violented from his naturall place according as the subiect it resideth in hath more or lesse power ouer it and is more or lesse materiall for it sheweth more of his leuity and naturall propēsion to ascend when it setteth an oyly or ay ery substance on fire and breaketh vp in flames thē when meeting with a more materiall ād terrestriall substance as wood it turneth it into a coale Now to apply this to our purpose I say that of all formes whatsoeuer that are ioyned to matter the noblest and most eleuated aboue the foeculency of matter is the soule of man for it is not onely the forme of the noblest materiall creature that is but besides that it is so full of efficacy as it euen ouerfloweth the capacity of matter which not being able to imbibe as I may say and take it vp all it hath a particular subsistence belōging to it selfe from whence Philosophers proue the immortality of it Therefore we may safely conclude that mankinde in the originall appetences and naturall desires of his soule is lesse subiect to contingency and more secure from hauing his nature corrupted and peruerted from his due course then any other materiall creature whatsoeuer is in the performance of those actions that proceed from the actiuity of his forme and so consequently being considered in generall proceedeth most certainly and infallibly to the pursuance thereof and it is impossible it should fall of from its owne nature and suffer that to be extinguished in it although in some particulars by the immersion in matter and the terrene habitation it dwelleth in some soule may be drawne or rather wrested to a contrary byas vnto that which originally nature implanted in it Now the primary originall naturall appetence of mans soule is the loue of truth which it vehemently desireth and is allwayes vnquiet ād ardēt in the search of it vpon what occasion soeuer and is neuer appeased and at ease vntill she haue found it out which she noe sooner hath done but the violence she was in is calmed she is contented and she setleth her selfe to repose as hauing arriued to her center and naturall place of rest wherein she continueth enioying the purchase she hath made vntill some new occasion of disquisision stir her vp againe in which she vseth the same industry and eagernes as before And thus we plainely see that the acquisition of truth is that which the soule in euery action naturally aymeth at as fire doth to ascend and detesteth falsehood as flames suffer violence to be reuerberated downewards Therfore allthough any particular man may haue his senses or fantasie so depraued as to take imperfect and maymed impressions of outward obiects or the powers of his vnderstanding so weake as to make preposterous and disorderly collections out of them or his iudgement so misguided by preoccupation of any affectiō or particular end as he may in himselfe be deceiued and feede his soule with falsehood in steede of truth or else that sinister respects and interests or sordide apprehensions of commodity to himselfe meeting with à soule so disposed and wrought vpon by the sensuall passions tyrannising ouer it as to cause him to swallow those baytes may make him employ the faculties of his vnderstanding and the powers of his soule contrary vnto their naturall inclination to the maintayning of a lye and industriously to deceiue others yet it is impossible that all mankind or such a multitude of men as contayne in them all the variety of dispositions and affections incident to the nature of man and that are dispersed throughout the world so as they can haue noe communion together whereby they might infect one another nor can haue sinister ends cōmon alike to them all which should inuite thē to conspire together to forge a falsehood it is impossible I say that such a company of men should so degenerate from their owne nature which is to loue truth as they should of themselues inuent a lye and that in so important a matter as faith is and concurre to deceiue the world of men that should come after them
notwithstanding all the miracles they had seene him worke in allmost 4. yeares tyme they continually cōuersed with him which appeareth plainely by the discourse of the disciples going to Emaus when they sayed we hoped c. And expressed their sadnesse for the contrary successe to their expectation and by saint Thomas his saying that he would not belieue his resurrectiō vnlesse he saw him and pnt his fingers into his woundes c. And by the rest of the Apostles that were so long before they would belieue his resurrection as hauing giuen ouer the thought of his diuinity and after his death considered him but as a pure man like other mē Therfore it was necessary that some inward light should be giuen them so cleare and so strōg and so powerfull as the senses should not be able to preuaile against it but that it should onerflowingly possesse ād fill all their vnderstandings and their soules and make them breake out in exteriour actions correspondent to the spirit that steered them within And the reason is euident for whiles on the one side the senses discerne apparantly miracles wrought in confirmation of a doctrine and on the other side the same senses doe stifly contradict the very possibility of the doctrine which those miracles testifye the soule within hauing no assistāce beyond the naturall powers she hath belonging originally vnto her is in great debate and anxiety which way to giue her assent and though reason doe preuaile to giue it to the party of the present miracles yet it is with great timidity But if it happen that the course of those miracles be stopped thē the particular seeming impossibilies of the proposed faith remayning alwayes alike liuely in their apprehension and the miracles wrought to confirme it residing but in the memory and the representatiōs of them wearing out dayly more and more and the present senses and fantasy growing proportionably stonger and stronger and withall obiecting continually new doubts about the reality of those miracles it cannot be expected otherwise but that the assent of the soule should range it selfe on the side of the impossibilityes appearing to the present senses and renounce the doctrine formerly confirmed by miracles vnlesse some inward and supernaturall light be giuen her to disperse all the mistes that the senses rayse against the truth of the doctrine Now the infusion of this light and feruour we call the giuing of the holy Ghost which Christ himselfe foreknowing how necessary it was promised them assuring thē that he would procure his father to send them the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth that should for euer remaine among them and within them and suggest vnto their memory and instruct them in the right vnderstāding of the faith he had preached vnto them And this was prophesied long before of the state of the law of grace by Hieremy whose authority S. Paule bringeth to proue that the law of the Gospell was to be written by the holy Ghost in mens hearts and in their mindes and accordingly he calleth the faithfull of the Corynthians the faith of Christ not written with inke but with the spirit of God nor grauen in stony tables but in the fleshy ones of their hearts And in performance of this prophesy and of Christs promise the hystorie telleth vs that on the tenth day after the ascension of Christ when all his disciples who were then all his Church and were to preach and deliuer it to all the world were assembled together the holy Ghost was giuen thē and that in so full à measure as they not onely were confirmed so perfectly in their faith as they neuer after admitted the least vacillation therein but they immediatly casting away all other desires and thoughts were inflamed with admirable loue of God and broke out into his prayses and into a vehement ardor of teaching and conuerting others and when by reason of that zeale of theirs any thing happened to them contrary to flesh and blood and humane nature as persecutions ignominies corporall punishmēts and euen death it selfe they not onely not shunned it as before but greedily rann to meete and embrace it and ioyed and gloryed in it all which were effects of the holy Ghost residing in them and filling their myndes and gouuerning their soules Where vppō by the way we may note that in what Church soeuer we find not à state of life for sanctitie and neere vnion with God and contempt of wordly and transitory things raysed aboue the pitch of nature and morality we may conclude the holy Ghost inhabiteth not there for euery agent produceth effects proportionable to the dignity of it and the excellency of any cause shineth eminently in the noblenesse of its effects Now that this guift of the holy Ghost is to remaine with the Church as long as the Church remaineth to illuminate it with the spirit of truth and to giue it a supernaturall and diuine vnction will appeare manifestly vpon consideratiō of the cause why the holy Ghost was to be giuen at the first which remaineth alwayes the same and therfore the same effect must alwayes follow and accordingly Christ promised his Church vpō his ascēding into heauen that he would alwayes ramaine with them vntill the end of the world to witt by this holy spirit for he was then at the point of withdrawing his corporall presence from them 15. Our next conclusion shall be that this Church or congregation of men spread ouer the world cōseruing and deliuering the faith of Christ from hand to hand is euen in its owne nature perpetuall in tyme and cannot faile as long as mankinde remayneth in the world This needeth noe further proofe then that which we haue already made which is deriued from the necessity of supernaturall faith to bring mankinde to the end it was created for and that there is no meanes to deliuer this faith to mankinde in the ages after Christ but by the traditiō of the Church and therefore as long as mankinde lasteth this meanes must be cōtinued Yet in this way of reasoning that I vse we are to examine our conclusions as well by the genuine and orderly causes that beget them and by their owne particular principles as to assent vnto them for the necessity that we see in them in regarde of the end that they are referred vnto And when we haue retriued those and euidently discerned theire force it giueth an admirable content and satisfaction to the vnderstanding Thus then as Philosophers conclude that it is impossible any whole species or kinde of beastes should euer be vtterly exterminated and destroyed that is diffused vp and downe ouer the whole face of the earth because the amplitude of the vniuerse is greater then the variety of causes can be from which such a generall and entire corruption must proceed In like manner we may confidently conclude that it is impossible any depraued affections should so vniuersally preuaile and so absolutly raigne in mens mindes throughout the