the second to the Corinthians We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of CHRIST that every one may receive the proper things of the body according as he hath don either good or evill For justice requires that we be recompenced and chastised in the same things which have contributed to good or evill But the greater part of sins are caused or Committed by the body 't is then reason that it rise again and feel the punishments due to them It concurrs likewise to vertuous actions 't is mortifyd by holy souls subjected to rigours of penance and to labours of a christian life it sufferrs prisons and punishments in Confessors torments and death in Martyrs 't is deprived of its pleasures in Virgins and in Widows and crucifyd in all true Christians it is then very just that it should participate in the satisfactions pleasures and recompences of Heaven The flesh says Tertullian is the Tertull. de Resur Carnis hinge of our salvation and if the soul be united to God 't is it that gives her capacity the flesh is washed to the end the soul be cleansed the flesh is annointed that the soul be consecrated the flesh is shadowed by imposition of hands that the soul be illuminated in Spirit the flesh is fed with the Body and Blood of JESUS-CHRIST to the end the soul be nourished by God they cannot then be seperated in recompences having been so joyn'd in actions And 't is vain to alleadg against this Verity the low condition of the flesh for the same Father says the flesh which God form'd to the resemblance of a man-God which He animated by his breath to the resemblance of his life which He fortifyd with his Sacraments of which He loves the purity approves the austerity and esteems the labours and the sufferances shal it not rise again It will never be that He leave in eternal death the works of his hands the care of his Spirit the tabernacle of his Breath the heir of his Liberalities the keeper of his Law the Victime of his Religion and the Sister of his CHRIST It will then be raised up again and in this God does as a Potter who seeing his Pot ill made breaks it to repair it better so God having form'd man of earth and finding him deprav'd by sin broke him by death to which he doom'd him but with design to repair and make him better in the day of the Resurrection 2. But if any one should aske me how that which is withered and rotten can becom living and flourishing again He needs not but to consider the Omnipotency of the Creator or with S. Paul the grain of corne which rots to rise again Foole 1. Cor. 15. Cgrysol Ser. 59. it first do die All things in this world according to S. Chrysologue are images of our Resurrection the Sun sets and rises the day is buried in darkness and returns months years seasons fruits seeds die in passing and rise again returning and to touch you with a sensible example as often as you sleep and wake you die in a certain manner and rise again Let us now reflect upon the words of this Article 3. The Apostles say not The Resurrection of the man though this he true But of the flesh for to teach us that when the man dies his soul dies not and therefore in the Resurection is nor raised-up again but reunited only to the body since nothing can be raised again to life unless it first be dead 4. They say not the Resurrecton of the body but of the flesh becaus the holy Ghost would afford us a means to Confute the errour of certain Hereticks who would sustain as in the first ages of the Church some did that we should rise not in a body of flesh but form'd of air 5. They use moreover these terms to convince orhers who in the time of the Apostles thought that the Resurrection of which the Scripture speaks signifys not that of the body but only that by which the Soul is raised out of the death of sin to the life of grace 6. In fine this word Resurrection makes us understand that we shal receive the same bodys which we had for since rising again signifys returning to life again It must be the same flesh which was dead that rises and returns to life 7. We All then shal have the same bodys which now we have but intire and perfect without want or superfluity without the imperfection of youth or the defect of old age None shal rise blind or purblind deaf or dumb lame or crooked too great or too little nor with any other defect or imperfection Becaus 't is God alone whose works are perfect that will raise us up He will not in this work make use of natural causes from which all defects proceed 8. Nevertheless the Resurrection of the Elect and that of the Reprobate will be very different The blessed Souls shal receive bodys like to Christs endowed with Light Subtility Agility and Impassibility that will shine as clear as Starrs that will penetrate and pass through althings as beams of the Sun through glass that will move as swiftly as lightning That will be impassible and immortal so that nothing in the world can hurt them They will enter into their bodys with great joy and gladness with many benedictions and congratulations ô my body such a soul will Say ô my dear companion and most faithfull friend receive now with ioy the fruit of thy labours mortifications and pains in the works of holiness thou hast been in miseries and in sufferances be thou now in felicity and in happiness and let us praise together the Authour of our good but the reprobate Souls will reenter into their bodies with great a version rage and many maledictions of those members which they go to animate for to render them sensible of ineffable and eternal torments Domine quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo aut quis requiescet in monte sancto tuo Lord says the Royal Prophet who shal dwell in thy tabernacle or who shal rest in thy holy hill He answers Psal 14. Qui ingreditur sine macula operatur justitiam He declares that two things are absolutely necessary to avoid evill and to do good one without the other suffices not Quis habitabit who shal be that happy that fortunate person that shal com to the glorious Resurrection and shal dwell amongst the Blessed O what happy lot attends him happy a thousand times the womb that bore him and the breasts which He did suck happie the paines taken to bring him up ô how well was it employd happie earth that he tramples under feet one ought to strew with flowers the paths which he honours with his steps happie air that he breaths one ought to sweeten it with all the perfumes of Arabia happie the bread which he eates one ought to nourish him with all that is most precious in nature and what deserves
the Iews for to oblige them to be faithfull in his service and obedient to his Laws I am the Lord thy God who have brought thee out of the land of Egipt I am your Lord and Sovereign you are my Vassalls and Slaves ' not only as other people by reason of the benefit of creation but by a new right and a special obligation becaus I made wâ—â—r against Pharao for you and you are my Captives and prisoners of warr JESUS hath much more reason to make the like plea to us and to oblige us to his service for he hath fought in his own person for us He hath been wounded in the combat He hath delivered us from the deplorable servitude of Sin freed us from the most cruel tyranny of Satan and drawn us from his oppression are we not then his slaves Add to this that He hath bought us 1. Cor. 6. 20. with his blood you are bought with a great price Says the Apostle You are then no more your own your Being your soul your body and your actions are not yours if you employ them then for your selves you are usurpers of anothers goods since IESUS hath bought you you belong more to him than a slave unto is Lord than a horse unto his Master 9. Nevertheless what is most uniust and most deplorable Many acknowledge not JESUS-CHRIST to be their Lord He receives no homage from them For what honor what service and what obedience do they render him If they are in a chamber of an earthly King or Lord t is with great respect with a profound silence and with fear to commit the least incivility But if they are in a church in the house of God in his presence they commit irreverences insolences and insupportable impudences What service do they render him In the morning as soon as they are up they fall upon their employments or upon fooleries or trifles and pastimes if they go to Church they give to God their lipps and their hearts to their affaires to vanities and often to worse in the Evening they pray in bed or half a sleep or with so little respect that they would not speak in that manner to a Civil man In the rest of the day they think not of him they speak of him no more than if there were no God unless perhaps pronouncing his holy name or calling upon him irreverently and offending him 10. What Obedience do they yield to his divine laws What little King is there in the world or Lord of a Village that they would disoblige as they do this great Lord If He were a King of cards they would not transgress his commandements with greater impudence than they do If He were a God of straw they would hardly offend him with more temerity and lesse regard to Him They sweare by his holy Name transgress his Commandements commit sins which displeas him infinitely and after this they laugh play and sleep as boldly as if they had done nothing 11. No He is not their Lord they say with the Iews we will not have this man reign over us they deny by their works what they profess by these words I believe in JESUS-CHRIST Luke 19. â—4 our Lord. Who is then their Master to whom do they appertain to whom do they homage and service To the most barbarous Cruel and infamous tyrants imaginable thô they know by serving such Masters they gain but hell that they have not one day of true repose not one hour of solide content that they are tortured by the furies of their conscience by apprehension of death by fear of damnation and by the sight of the inconstancy and mortality of Creatures which they love The world cries I fail you in time of need the flesh cries I defile and cover you with ordures the Devill cries I deceive them that trust in me and many goe after these Masters JESUS our Lord cries come to me all and I will refresh you I will discharg you of the heavy burden of the world I will deliver you from the Tyrannie of your passions I Matt. 11. 28. will free you from the servitude of the Devill And yet few do go to him Ah! few of them also who cry out to him Lord Lord and do seem to honour him for many of these desire to goe but stand still they cannot abide to take paines in the way they will not labour to practise the vertues which He commands tho' He hath given so excellent and heroycal Example of obedience having made himself obedient to death and to the death of the Cross and tho' they know that since He hath redeemed us by his Obedience to the Commandements of his Father He will apply to us the fruit of his Redemption by our Obedience to his Commandements He is made says the Apo-stle the cause of eternal salvation to all them that doe obey him 12. Let us say then with S. Austin Command what you will Heb. 5. 9. give what you Command you may Command what so ever you please for you are Lord You cannot command any thing that is not just for you are a most equitable Iudge You command nothing but what is sweet profitable and facile with your grace for you are our Father Give what you Command There is much repugnance in our corrupted nature much opposition to the observance of your divine Laws But you are Omnipotent and can easily overcome it by your Grace You promised by your Prophets that you would write your Commandements in our hearts they are as hard as stones But you wrote them upon stones Engrave them then we beseech you in the center of our hearts that you comming to Judge may not find transgressions to be punished But good works which are your gifts to be rewarded in the happy Eternity Amen DISCOURS V. OF THE THIRD ARTICLE Who was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Marie SPirituall and devout soules who meditate upon the Misteries of this Article are transported with joy and admiration at the sight of the great wonders divinely wrought in the wombe of the B. Virgin in the Conception of JESUS-CHRIST For if in this Conception there is one thing natural there are many that surpass all nature That our Redeemers Body was formed of the Blood of a woman is a natural thing But that it was formed not by mans operation but by the operation of the holy Ghost That his Body was made in an instant without the imperfections in which ours are made That in this instant it receives a reasonable soule without the ignoâ—ance where in we are conceived without the stayne of original sin which Adam put upon us But on the contrary with perfect knowledg of all things and with plenitude of Grace That this Body and soul are united to the second Person of the B. Trinity That that which arises by this Vnion is perfect God and perfect man That He was such in a womans wombe That she remaining
is good and deserves to be loved for God is so good great holy powerfull and worthy to be loved that if He did desire it we should sacrifice our selves for his service though there were neither heaven for those that love him nor hell for those that love him not 11. We should do as the blessed Spirits do it is IESUS that gives the Counsel putting these words into our mouths Your will be don in earth as it is in heaven that is as the Angells do it they do the will of God and obey his Orders with a free pure and disinteressed love all that they pretend is to obey God to do his will all the recompence that they passionately desire is to receive new Orders to be employd again in his service purely for the love of him 12 This is not sayd that a faithfull soul may not hope and keep the commandements for reward or retribution as the Prophet says he did But that it be not the principal yet less the only aime of our love for as S. Bernard says perfect love of God intends no recompence but merits much The loving soul receives from the hands of God ineffable and incomprehensible goods but though she should not though there should be no Paradise nor reward she would not omit to love God serve him and to be pleasing to him and if she practises vertue for reward the reward which she desires is the increase of her love if she is glad to merit to be higher in heaven this is not to have there more of honor and glory but it is to have more of love if I merit much says she I shal see God more clearly and perfectly in heaven I shal glorify him more excellently I shal praise him more advantagiously I shal be united to him more strictly and intimatly I shal love him more ardently and so love is the true salary of love 13. In fine your love must not be idle and paralitick but active to render service to God and to do good works for his glory Charity works great things where it is and where it works not there it is not says S. Gregory S. Iohn 14. 23. 1. Ep. 3. 18. Psai 96. 10. He that loves me will keep my word says IESUS My little children says his beloved Disciple let us not love in word and tongue only but in work and veritie and the Royal Prophet You that love our Lord hate ye evill he says not only commit not evill but hate it He says not hate it in your self but absolutely hate it If you love God you will hate sin wheresoever it is found you will destroy it in your self and in your neighbor also if if you can if one should say I abuse not my friend but is not sorry that another does nor hinders him when he can may one truly say he loves him Let us conclude with a reflexion upon these words of JESUS I Came to cast fire upon the earth and what desire I but that it be inflam'd Luke 12. 49. And does He not move solicit and stir up our hearts to this fire and flame of love by all possible wayes 14. He prevents us with great love He lou'd us more than riches He was made poor for us more than honours He suffered a thousand infamies more than his ease and pleasure He led a life in pain and labor more than his body He depriu'd it of glory and of life more than the Angells He redeem'd them not And though we are so ungratful and unworthy as not to return love for love He tryes yet other means 15. He heaps Benefits upon us and makes us presents to engage our mercenary hearts He practises the counsel He gives us by the Wiseman and by his Apostle Give meat and drink to your enemy Prov. 25. 21. Rom. 12. 20. when he hath need and you shal heap upon him burning coales to heat his love to you so many prosperities that are sent you so many morcells of bread you eate so many creatures that serve you are so many burning coales He heaps upon you to heat your love so many presents He makes you to gain your affection so many baits he laies to catch your heart Et si parva sunt ista adiiciet majora And if it seems to you that all this is too little and that your heart is yet worth more He assures you that all the favours whiich he hath don you and which he does you yet every day are not but gages and pledges of the great Goods He hath prepar'd and promis'd you if you love him Neither eye hath seen nor eare hath heard 1. Cor 2. 9 nor the heart of man can comprehend the things which God hath prepar'd for them that love him says S. Paul 16. But since we esteem not these promises enough and are like those Israelites who contemn'd she desirable land He lifts up his hand He commands us ro love him and threatens punishments if we do not Is not this to be extremly desirous of our love to put as it were a dagger to our throats and say to us love me J will kill you if you will not He does not only say it but he does it he damnes us eternaly if we love him not 17. And when He sees that fear of future punishments doe not sufficiently move our hearts He sends us sometimes afflictions to force our love He takes away all you love in this world becaus you love not well that which ought to be loved above all things He removes from you all that may amuse and employ your heart that it may be in a manner forced for want of other object to unite it self to Him ô great God what can you do more to have this heart which you so passionately desire you besige it on all sides and it renders not neither the preventions of your love nor the attractives of your benefits nor your promises of paradise nor your strict commands nor threats of hell nor constrains of afflictions can open this lockt heart Extremis morbis extrema remedia 18. When a passionate lover hath tryed all wayes and finds them unsuccesfull he coms to the last makes use of a charm composes a love potion JESUS makes use of this artifice to gain our affection He puts himself upon our Altars and into our Tabernacles there he is the charm of love They say that in a charm of love to render it more powerfull the Lover ought to mix with it some of his own substance some drops of his blood and JESUS puts all his blood into this potion not a part of his substance only but all his substance Body Soul and Divinity 19. What think you Judg you not that God ought to have your heart after so many pursuances do they not inflame you to beg that of God which is so necessary and which you cannot have of your own selves Aske it of God fervently humbly frequently aske it of
46. 16. and should burn in Sacrifice all the beasts that feed on it in acknowledgment of Gods Benefits all that would not be enough He sayd true but he sayd not all for we may add if we should make a fire with all the fewell in the world and all men and Angells should be therein consum'd for the honor of God all that would not suffice to acknowledg worthily the favours He hath don us But when we offer to God the precious Body of his Son we render him that which doth counterpoise all Benefits He hath don not only to poor sinners upon Earth but moreover to Saints in Heaven 8. This Host of praise being presented to God in thanksgiving for favours obtaines other If you shal aske says our Saviour any Iohn 16 23. thing of my Father in my name He will give it you We cannot better ask of God any favour in the name of IESUS then having Him with us upon our Altars in our hands and within us The Clemency of God will have regard to the love He hath for Him to the sacred Oblation you present to him and harken to the petitions you make by him Have you much offended God deserv'd his justice and his anger Do you fear the effects of his vengeance Dare you not appear in his presence by reason of the enormity of your crimes Take into your company the Heire of heaven the beloved of the eternal Father assist at Mass devoutly offer to the Father the precious Body which is there Sacrificed the blood which there is poured forth the Passion which there is represented and you will appease his anger and He will harken to your requests For it was for this chiefly that Christ instituted this Sacrifice to be the sacred Victime which appeases the wrath of God as he declares in Saint Luke when you are in the state of sin if mass be sayd S. Luke 22. 20. for you or if you assist at it this obtaines of God actuall graces lights and good motions to enter into your selves to quit the sin and to convert your selves to God if you resist not the Summons of his graces when you are in the state of grace Part of the merits sufferances and satisfactions of IESUS CHRIST are applyed to you to acquit your debts and to deminish the pains due to your sins 9 But suppose you are not indebred to the Iustice of God the poor souls in Puâ—gatory are and you may help them much by making a mass to be sayd or by hearing one for them For 't is not in vaine says S. Chrysostome that the Apostles ordain'd that in the dreadfull Misteries we make a memory of the dead for they knew that by it arriv'd to them great benefit And S. Cyrill of Hierusalem S. Chry. tom 3 in Ep ad Philip. S. Cyrill Catech. Mystag 5 Paulo ante medium Aug. lib. 9. Confes C 35. we beseech God for the dead believing the obsecration of that holy and dreadfull sacrifice which is put upon the Altar to be a great kelp to the soules for which 't is offered Wherefore S. Augustine in his Confessions prayes God to inspite the Bishops and the Priests of his acquaintance to remember his Father and Mother at the Altar 10 Having then seen how acceptable and glorious this Sacrifice is to God how beneficial both to the living and the dead fail not to assist at as many masses as you may hear them as devoutly as you can Offer them in the first place to God to do homage to your Soveraign to render him your respects and humble submissions to pay him the tribute of honour and service which you owe him Secondly to thanke him for an infinity of most great and inestimable benefits you have received from him benefits in soul benefits in body benefits of nature grace spiritual and temporal Thirdly to appease Him and to ask pardon of Him for jnnumerable sins you have committed and to gaine his favour represent to Him the love which his Son had for Him the zeal which He had for his glory the service He hath don Him offer and lay before Him the Mysteries of his Incarnation Nativity Circumcision his life labors and Passion this is that which S. Paul calls obsecrations Fourthy beg light and guidance in your actions succour and assistance in temptations love and grace to keep his commandements and all that is necessary as well for the spiritual as the temporal and you should do all these dutyes not only for your family but also for others If you assist at mass so you will not receive only the many and great advantages of it in this life but moreover reap the fruits of the Mysteries which the Mass represents to you and which glory discovers to the Blessed in the other Amen DISCOURS XLVII OF THE THREE PARTS OF PENANCE 1. AMongst many expressions which the holy Ghost vses in the scripture to make us conceive the maligne and monstrous nature of sin one of the most natural is the comparison of an impostume An impostume is a corruption of flesh and blood in our bodys which makes a stinking smell sin is a corruption of reason and of vertue in our souls which cause a stink unsupportable to God and his Angells They are corrupted and made abominable says the Royal Prophet All Surgeons will tell you and daily experience Psal 13. 1. shews it that to cuâ—e an impostume three things are necessary First it must be cut with a lancet secondly the corruption must be forced out in the third place it must be bound up oyls and unguents being applyed to it Such like are the three parts of penance so often repeated and so ill practised Contrition is the cut of the lancet Confession is that which brings out the corruption Satisfaction is the application of the unguents and binders These are the 3. Acts necessary to cure the spiritual but horrible impostume of sin of which I shal treat in this Discours In which omitting the Questions of Scholasticks I propose only Verities drawn out of Scripture and Councills of the Church 2. First then it is certain that 't is absolutely necessary to repent after sin that without repentance there is no pardon no grace of God no hope of salvation whatsoever Confession or Satisfaction you do make whatever absolution is given you Whatsoever indulgence or Iubily is granted you If you want this repentance also without your fault though also you think you have it if you have it not in effect there is no Sacrament nor absolution profitable And certainly Absolution is not more efficacious and requires not less disposition than Baptisme But to receive profitably Baptisme if we be in mortal sin we must have sorrow for it for in the second and third chapter of the Acts S. Peter having made a powerfull predication and his Auditours being moved inquired of him what ought we to do to obtain pardon of our sins He answered do Penance and
What is CHRSIT This is a Mistery well known to many But which ought not to be unknown to any because 't is the foundation of Christianity And the Source of our salvation And it oonsistes in this that as in us there are two parts the one interiour invisible and Spiritual which is the soule The other exteriour visible and material which is the body body and soul so knit togeather that thay make but one thing which is man So in our Saviour there are two Natures one increated eternal and infinite to wit the Divinity the other created temporal and finite to wit the Humanity that is to say a body and a reasonoble soul which Divinity and Humanity are so united and ioyned togeather that they make but one Personne which is true God and true Man whom the Apostles signify by these names IESUS-CHRIST SON OF GOD and OUR LORD 2. First they call him IESUS which signifys a Saviour And it was imposed with great reason For if Joseph in the Egiptian tongue was Called Saviour because he kept the people from Gen. 41. Numb 13. famine by his providence if Osee the Son of Num the Successor of Moyses had the same name becaus he led the people into the land of Promise after they had fought many battells And if the Son of Iosadech had also the same name for contributing 1. Esdras 3. to the delivery of the people out of the captivity of Babylon with much more reason our Saviour received this name since He does not only deliver some particular people out of certain calamities as they did but moreover all mankind from sin damnation and eternal misery 3. He also apply's himself to our Salvation with so much tenderness and affection with so much fervour and zeal that more than most deservingly He may take from this also his Name They that love passionatly write in a ring with their own name that of their beloved The Son of God hath written our salvation not with his Name but in his Name He cannot thinke of his own Name without remembring our Salvation When you will express an ardent desire of any thing you say I would give for it a part of my blood IESUS sayd it not but He hath don it and He gave not a part only but all his precious Blood for our Salvation IESUS makes so much account of our soules that having bought them with his Blood He pleases himself in the bargaine and shal we sell them to the Devill for a little money or for a brutal pleasure He begins to suffer for us from the time He begins to live and shal we serve him but when we decay or begin to die He thinks not on his Name without remembring us and shal we hear or pronounce this holy Name without calling to minde the benefit of our Redemption without thanking and honouring the Personne named Let us have him in our thoughts frequently in the day thanking him and offering our selves to him In our words speaking often of him and of what He hath done to be our IESUS In our prayers demanding of him and by him the graces and vertues which are necessary for us In our hearts loving him and reioycing in him 4. In the second place the Apostles call him CHRIST which signifys annointed And this name was given to Priests Kings Exod. 29 1. kings 10. 3. kings 19 and Prophets because they were annointed with oyle which signifys grace in figure of IESUS CHRIST But IESUS is not a Priest only but the sovereign Priest of Priestes not King only but the King of Kings not Prophet only but Prophet of all the Prophets Priest King Prophet Annointed not by men but by God not with oyle but with the fullness of his graces 5. In the third place they call him Son of the Omnipotent Father SON not by adoption or grace only but by nature For He is begotten from all eternity not according to his humanity or according to his Soul and Body but according to his divine Person Begotten I say not carnally corporeally but spiritually divinely and incomprehensibly by the understanding of the Father or by the knowledg the eternal Father hath of himself And by the property of his birth He receives three names which are to him particular notional and personal which appertaine to him and not to the other Persons of the BB. Trinity He is a WORD an JMAGE a SON He is a WORD Verbum erat apud Deum the WORD was with God S. Iohn 1. Collos 8. He is an IMAGE Ipse est Imago Dei invisibilis He is the JMAGE of the invisible God He is a SON misit Deus filium suum God sent his Son He is a WORD because produced by the Vnderstanding a WORD for the science knowledge and doctrine of the Father is most simple and uncompounded 't is but one only WORD but which represents all says all and does all He is an Image for He is the actual knowledg which God hath of himself the Expression of his Essence He represents it then perfectly otherwise the Science of God would be imperfect He is then the natural image lively representation and perfect character of Gods substance He is a SON for He is produced by the Vnderstanding by a natural Power by a natural and vital action and through inclination the Eternal Father hath to produce his like not only by resemblance but in identity of Nature He is then the true Son of God his production is true generation and He is not only equal to the Father but the same God with him 6. They Say only Son And He is so the only one that 't is impossible there should be another because the eternal Father begets him most necessarily and continually and his generative Power tho' infinite is wholy entirely and eternally employd in producing him 7 In fine the Apostles most justly call him Our Lord. For so He is by many Titles Other Lords and Sovereigns have generally but one Title one only right to their Dominions and that sometimes pretended usurped and uniustly acquired or at the best a very slight one JESUS is our Lord by all sorts of Rights by all the Titles that can give authority and jurisdiction He is our Lord because He created us the Workman is naturally Master of his worke ' the Father of his child and the Potter of his earthen vessel He is our Lord because He conserves nourishes and hinders us from returning to the nothing out of which He drew us He is our Lord because He directs governs and commands us and by other prerogatives of Nature 8. And becaus that all these Titles of Sovereignity give him Empire and Dominion over other creatures as well as over mankind He would be our Lord by Titles that give him particular and special authority over us We appertain to him by the right of Conquest by the right of Emption or purchas and Redemption This right God alleadged often to
having taught Christs Victorious Resurrection teach us in this Article his tryumphant Ascension By his Nativity He went forth into the field to fight by his Passion and death He fought the battle By his Resurrection He overcame his enemies and by his Ascension He tryumphs His tryumphant chariot was a thousand thousand of celestial spirits Psal 67. 18. and according to the translation of S. Hierom innumerable thousands He tryumphed not only over enemies of flesh and blood but also over devills sin and death The spoils He carried with him were not flocks of sheep and troops of other beasts but innumerable multitudes of souls which He redeem'd out of Prison and rescued out of the jawes of Hell Thou art ascended high thou hast taken Captivity says the Rayal Prophet to him Psal 67. 10. With all this glorious traine He ascended not carried in a chariot as Elias nor by Angells as Abacuc the Prophet and S. Philip nor did He ascend only by the force and agility He recived in his resurrection but moreover by the power and vertue He had as God 2. He Ascended into heaven There are three Heavens according to the scripture Airy Statry and Emperial and He mounted above all heavens as his Apostle says so passing the Air Sun and all â—phes 4. the heavens He mounted to the most high and sublime place of the world 3. He sits at the right hand of God the Father God is a spirit a pure and incorporeal Being who hath neither side nor hand noâ— part How does He sit then at his right hand And if He sits in a seat or Throne of what matter is it made is it of wood marble gold silver or Diamant I know well 't is answered the Apostles accommodate themselves to our low manner of understanding and of speaking and that by this session at the right hand of the Father they express the equality and consubstantiality of the Father and the Son When we see one speak to the king on knee we conclude he is a Vassall But if we see one sit upon a throne neer the king and at his right hand we say he is a Prince or Sovereign The Apostles say JESUS sits at the right hand of the Father this is to say He is Sovereign Omnipotent and infinite as the Father equal coessential and coeternal with the Father 4. Yes But JESUS as man is not consubstantial nor coeternal with the Father and yet He is at the right hand of the Father not only as God but also as man as S. Leo expresly teaches in his first sermon of the Ascension You will say the humane nature of JESUS is in the Throne of God and at the right hand of the Father becaus being as it were ingraffted and inserted in the Being of God in the subsistance of the Word and making but one Person with him 't is served and reverenced as God 5. You say true but this solues not the difficulty For this holy Humanity is united to the Word and subsisting in his Personality from the first instant of Christs Conception and nevertheless to speak properly it is not but since the day of his Ascension that the Humanity is elevated to the glory of the Father and seated at his right hand as the church says in the Canon of the Mass that day 6. For to clear then these difficulties we must remember that in the Mistery of the incarnation the Son of God communicating his subsistance to the holy Humanity should have made it at the same time participant of all the perfections and Attributes of which a created Nature may be capable For if in a perfect marriage the Woman espouses not only the Person of her husband but also his nobility prerogatives and Honours shal not the sacred Humanity which is married much more perfectly and inseparebly to the Word receive from him the Perfections that are communicable to It A Vegetative soul penetrating the stock of a little tree makes it live with a Vegetative life A sensitive soul informing the body of a Lamb makes it live with a sensitive life An intellectual soul animating the body of a man makes it live with a reasonable life and the divine Word actuating filling and possessing the holy Humanity shal He not make it live with a divine life Ought He not to communicate to it his proprieties and his Attributes since He is united to it more strictly perfectly and nobly than any soul is to her Body or form to its matter 7. Nevettheless the divine Word to procure our salvation and to accomplish the work of our Redempion suspended in his Incarnation the communication of divers of his perfections For if JESUS had been immortall how should he have dyed for us If He had been impassible how would He have suffered for us If He had been independent and sovereign how would have he given us an example of obedience subjecting himself to his holy Mother But in the day of his Ascension He made an entire effusion of himself and of all his excellencies and perfections that were communicable to Humanity 8 This is that which He asked of his Father in the Vigil of his death when He sayd Now glorify me o Father with thy self with the glory which I had with thee before all ages Vpon which S. Iohn 17. 5. Lib. 11. in Io. C. 17. Colloss 2. 9. S. Cyrill of Alexandria says The Saviour asks to be glorifyd not with an accidental glory but with a natural glory and a little after The glory which He always had as God He asks now as man This is moreover that which S. Paul teaches us when he says the plenitude or fullness of the Divinity inhabits corporally in him that is in his Humanity says the same S. Cyrill And this is that wich ought to rejoyce us in this Mistery This is that which renders this Mistery dear and precious to JESUS to the Virgin and to all the Church 'T is in the Ascension properly that JESUS Man God sits at the right hand of the Omnipotent 't is in the Ascension that He was receiv'd into the Throne of God and that He entred into the Glory of his Father 9. He sits that is to say He is no more subject to labours tributary to wearines lyable to humane miseries and infirmities 10. He is at the right hand of the Omnipotent that is He hath the superintendence and the administration of Heaven and earth of men and Angells of spiritualls and temporalls What honor what happiness for us to know and to be assured that a persone of the same nature with us hath the keyes of life and death of Heaven and hell that He governs all and does whatsoever He sees good 11. He is in the Throne of God that is He entred into the real actual and eternal enjoyance of his Empire 12. He is in Glory of the Father that is He is received into a full entire and perfect possession of all the
since all the right will be on God's side and all the wrong on ours IESUS will take his Fathers part and espouse his quarrell will do him justice for the injuries He received and judg us without favour or acceptance of persons â—phes 6. 9. 5. He will rejoyce exceedingly to satisfy his Father becaus his interests are dear and precious to him Impious and Idiots censure the Providence of God becaus they know not the reasons and the end of it they murmure that the just are humbled the poor afflicted the bad honoured and glutted with riches and delights they are astonished that the child of a devout woman dies without Baptisme and is reproov'd the child of a dishonest woman is predestinated and dies after Baptisme our Savior will justify his Father He will make clearly seen the Wisdom of his conduct the uprightness of his judgments the equity of his decrees and the admirable Economie of his Providence This rejoyces souls that love our Saviour this nourishes their hope and is the object of their devotion Let us elevate then our selves to God and say with the Psalmist make jubilation in the sight of the king our Lord becaus He coms to judg the earth Psal 97. 6. In the second place it is convenient there should be another Judgment besides that which is made in the hour of our death becaus in this the soul is judged only and the body ought to be judged also For The body contributs much to the merit and demerit of the soul it cooperats vsually to the good and to the evill which she practises it is the cause that a reprobate soul offends God by intemperance drunkennesse luxury idleness vain ornaments it is rhe cause that an elect soul pleases God in fasting whatching wearing hair cloath kneeling travelling keeping Virginity induring death for defense of Faith since then in the particular judgment these bodies receiv'd not the salary nor the paine which they merited in this life there ought to be another judgment which recompences or punishes them according to their deserts 7. In fine it is expedient that the elect may be praised honoured glorifyd and the reprobate dispraised reproched and confounded in the face of the whole world Our Lord will then give 1. Cor. 4. 5. to every one the praise which he deservs says the Apostle He will praise you for your Charity you for your patience you for your humility He will discover your secret penances your alms given to the poor your hidden hair shirt your nightly and early rising to prayers And consequently He will give also to the reprobate the blame and infamy which they deserve 8. To this effect he will enlighten the hidden things of darkness 1. Cor. 4. 5. and will manifest the counsells of the hearts as the Apostle says He will discover all thoughts words and actions of the reprobate in in the sight of that great assembly He will confound the hippocrisie of those that deceive the world reprove the craft and subtility of them who supplant the simple and thunder against the calumniators and diffamers of the innocent He will shew how unjustly the elect are contemn'd derided vilefied neglected and abused and how vainly and foolishly the reprobate are admired praised honored and preferr'd He will shew that He is good not only by praising approving and recompencing good but also by dispraysing condemning and persecuting the enemies of good 9. Cheer up then ô chosen Souls cheer up and rejoyce when we speak of judgment lift up your heads for behold your Redemption Luke 21. 28. is at hand What consolation what joy what gladness and what assurance for you when the whole world shal be moved at the terrible sound of the trumpet when the Iudg shal be in a throne of glory and of Majesty amidst thunders and lightnings when the rocks themselus shal tremble and people shal shake and shiver for fear when you shal see Hercules and Alexanders Cesars and Pompies Plato's and Aristotles the great Conquerors and Wise of the world dragg'd as Criminalls to the Tribunal of the Iudg reduced to an extream dispair not daring so much as to lift up their eyes expecting with horrour the sentence of their condemnation Then Then if you will believe me if you will indure a little here and keep exactly the commandements of God Then I say you will rejoyce heartily you who are esteem'd the lees and the scum of the world the objects of a thousand incommodities you will laugh with a celestial laughter you will be filled with a solid assurance you will acknowledg him whom you have so well serv'd and whilst others tremble you shal go to meet him in the Air obviam Thes. 4. â—6 Christo in aere you shal approach to him with confidence saying with joy which cannot be exprest behold my good Master that was crucifyd behold my Saviour whom I loved so ardently Look upon him now you worldly souls Is not this the Savior whom you so much despised heretofore you mocked us you called us hyppocrits scrupulous and superstitious people you held it simplicity to pardon injuries to indure affronts to deprive your selves of sensual pleasures to mortify your flesh and passions to contemn temporal goods through the hopes of eternal which you esteemd uncertain You see well now that we were not deceived you see it by experience O God! what extream favour to have serv'd well a king now so honour'd Sacred labors happy mortifications and persecutions which are now so divinely recompenced sweet austerities How great and admirable are the joyes you breed me Then Then ô Christion souls these bodys so often bowed and humbled before God shal be exalted and replenished with glory then you shal be justifyd from the faults of which at present you are so unjustly accused you shal be deliver'd from the persecutions they raise against you 9. But you on the contrary ô worldly soul you ought to tremble and shake when we speak of judgment You ought to consider that you must render an account to a Iudg infinitely powerfull to whose anger none can make resistance To a judg infinitely Wise and knowing who searches the bottom of the heart from whose knowledg you cannot hide your most secret thoughts to a Iudg infinitely good who is oblig'd by his nature to be mortal enemie to sin Hear then and put in practise his divine Words by which He vouchsafs to instruct you how to avoid the rigour of his justice behold how He concluds the sermon which He made of the last judgment Look well to your selves lest perhaps your hearts be aggravated Luke 21. with surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this life Watch therefore praying at all times that you may be accounted worthy to escape the things that are to com and to stand before the Son of man Amen DISCOURS X. OF THE SEUENTH ARTICLE From thence He will com to judg the quick and the dead 1. IT is
account they do ill in believing that they being sinners can by Baptisme wash away the sins of others and do injury to the Son of God by going themselves or by carrying their children to their Ministers to have their sins remitted by this Sacrament since it belongs to the Son of God to wash away sins by Baptisme Heaven declar'd this Verity to S. Iohn Baptist Vpon whom thou shalt see the holy Ghost Iohn 1. 33. descending He it is that Baptizes But who is so weak that does not answer easily that they baptize on the part of God in his Name and by his Command that they go not to their Ministers as men but as God's Deputies and Vicegerents to be baptized I say the same of Absolution we absolve from sins not of our own selves but in the Name of God as his Deputies and Ministers by the Power Authority and Commission which He hath given us 3. Behold the Commissions and Patents of it Whatsoever You shal Matt. 18. unbind on earth shal he unbound in heaven and in Saint Iohn Whose sins you shal forgive they are forgiven them And whose You Iohn 20. shal retain they are retained These words of our Saviour are as clear as the Sun but let us suppose they have need of interpretation To whom shal we recurr for the interpretation of them To one that came a 100 or sixscore years ago or to the ancient Fathers of the first ages when according to Reformers themselves the Church was in her purity S. Chrysostom speaks great things vpon this subject Lib. 3 de Sacerdotio and seems to have foreseen all the evasions of Reformers First he says that the Son of God communicated to his Apostles the same power that He received from his Father and this great Saint speaks so after our Savior himself For in the same time He sayd to his Disciples whose sins you shal remit they are remitted He sayd to them I send you as my Father sent me But our Savior had not only power to declare that sins are remitted by faith but He had power also to remit them In the second place S. Chrysostom says If a king should give to a favourit power to imprison and to deliver prisoners what favour would this be Yet this would be nothing if compar'd with the power of Priests there is as much difference 'twixt these powers as between heaven and earth Thirdly he says that the Priests of the old Law had not power but to judg the leaprosie of the body and to judg of it only not to cure it ours have power to judg of sin which is the leaprosie of the soul and also to cure her of it Aug. hom 49. ex 50. S. Amb. Lib. 1. de Penit. c. 7. S. Austin says let no body flatter himself saying I confess in my heart I confess to God this is not enough and on this account in vain the Son of God would have sayd to Priests All that you shal unbind on earth And S. Ambrose speaking to the Novatians who sayd that men have not power to remit sins says Why baptize you if men have not power to remit sins for Baptisme is the remission of sins and what if Priests attribute to themselves the power that is given them either by Baptisme or by Penance Let us leave Dissenters and consider the wonders of this Power that we may with those in the Gospell glorify God who gave such power to men I confess that there are not many Misteryes in our Matt. 9. Religion which I more admire than this and you will admire it with me if you consider with me the circumstances of it 4. The first is that this Power is Divine it pertains not properly but to him who receiv'd an injury to remit and pardon it It belongs then to God to remit offences against him Wherfore the Pharisees hearing our Savior say to the Paralitick thy sins are forgiven thee and not believing that He was God thought that He blasphem'd What would they have then thought what wouâ—d they have sayd if they had known as we know that JESUS CHRIST would give to men and to sinful men this Power 5. A Power in the second place so soveraign that 't is definitive without appeal The sentences which Priests pronounce and all that they justly ordain on earth is ratifyd infallibly in heaven When you have confest with necessary dispositions if the Priest say to you I absolve thee c. fear not that God will condemn you He cannot fail in his promise and He promised to absolve you if the Priest absolve you legitimatly 6. And this is don with so much Authority and Majesty that this Power is perfectly Royal for the Priest absolves not praying If he should say over you the misereatur only or should pray God to absolve you you would not be absolv'd JESUS-CHRIST wills that he say I absolve thee and heaven and earth shal melt rather than you shal fail of absolution how ever great and enormous your sins may be 7. This is a fourth Circumstance of this Power that it is most ample absolute and general without exception restriction or modification For there is no sin which the Church cannot remit since the Son of God hath sayd absolutely and without reserve Whose sins you shal remit shal be remitted 8. But that which is to be admired most in this Power is the facility and convenience we have to vse it 'T is true that having committed a sin it is not so easy as some think to have a true repentance of it We must ask it instantly of God and indeavour to obtain it of him by good works But when we have obtain'd it what is more easy than to find a Priest who may absolve us Have we not great cause to be astonished and to cry out my God! How have you been so liberal as to give this Power to your Church and to so many Priests If you had given it but to the Pope or to Patriarks or to Bishops or for one only time of the life of each one the excess of liberality would not have seem'd so great but for always for so many times and to so many Priests What excess of love of grace and mercy ô how will a soul that considers well thiâ— Benefit melt with dilection how will she burn with the love of such a Benefactor How often will she kiss those sacred wounds How often will she bless that adorable Blood which purchased her so great a good How often will she say my soul bless thou our Lord. On the contrary What regretts shal we have in hell if we are damn'd for having neglected contemn'd or prophan'd so great a Benefit The devout Rupertus was wont to say he had no pity on Christians that were damn'd and when one sayd to him why have you not if a dog should be so afflicted we should be moved to compassion I have none sayd he for 't is
cause by its effects the original by the copy such a Master such a man such Parents such children commonly speaking It is the gain of the Parents you will gain the affection and the praises of your children They will say after your death Thankes be to God who gave us Parents so exemplar vigilant and vertuous It is your gain you will gain Heaven for S. Paul says if a woman continue in faith and love in sanctification and sobriety and breed up her children in the same she shal obtain salvation 1. Tim. 2. 18. Amen DISCOVRS XXXIIII OF THE FIFTH COMMANDEMENT Thou shalt not kill THis Commandement forbids us to kill without legitimate Authority either our own selves or any humane creature either positively by putting the cause of death or negatively by not removing it if in our power To which the Son of God hath added But I say to you Whosoever shal be angry shal be in danger of judgment Nevertheless since our Saviour Matth. 5. is the perfect modell and Idea of the elect and that we see in the scripture He hath been sometimes angry It seems that imitation of him in this point is an action not permitted Mark 3. 5. only but vertuous and meritorious To clear this point in which the difficulty of this commandement consists and to make this discours beneficial We will see first whether or no there was any anger in IESUS-CHRIST Secondly the difference of his and ours and thirdly the remedies of ours Lord rebuke me not in thy fury nor chastise me in thy anger says the Royal Prophet Our Saviour IESUS-CHRIST is He transported with fury Is He subject to any passion as to Psal 6. make his blood boil his eyes sparkle his mouth froth to set his face on fire and afterwards to make it pale to disorder his soul in her functions and to deprive her of her empire and command for these are the proper effects and symtoms of anger which made the Stoicks after many disputes upon this subject say a wise man is not subject to these passions It is certaine that in our Saviour as he is God there is no such Passion for his Divinity being most pure simple and invariable cannot be subject to these transports and alterations 3. Nevertheless the holy Ghost in the Scripture to condescend to our infirmity and to accommodate himself to our manner of speaking and understanding attributes to God many things which pertain not to him properly but only by Analogy and likeness to that which is seen in creatures so He attributes to him anger which is no other thing in him than his justice which is called anger becaus it hath the same effect as anger but not the weakness and imperfection of anger He that is angry revenges the injury receiv'd but with transport and commotion God by his justice punishes sin but with tranquillity without passion Thou judgest with Wisd 12. 18. tranquillity says the holy Ghost in the book of Wisdom 4. But if we consider JESUS-CHRIST as man I will say with Divines that the passions love hatred choler and joy sorrow desire and fear being appurtinances to humane nature certainly were in IESUS-CHRIST as man But without the imperfections wherewith original sin hath soiled them which hath made them in us strong and vigorous and to revolt continually The Passions of IESUS were not such He had absolute command over them they were perfections natural organs and instruments which He apply'd to holy uses Wherefore the Saints dared not call them simply Passions but Propassions to signify that in this holy Soul there were some dispositions which held the place of passions and therefore are called propassions as the Pronounes are so called becaus they hold the place of Nounes So the sacred Historians recount that IESUS entring into the Temple raised in himself anger ouverthrew the tables of the Marchands and chased them out as doggs May we imitate him in this Is it good to raise anger in our selves ought we not to confess it We need not absolutely speaking 't is neither vice nor imperfection but a good action and a vertue to raise anger provided it be seasoned with all necessary circumstances and like to that of IESUS But becaus we are commonly so frail and so imperfect that we know not how to use this knife without cutting our own selves all things well considered it is better to deprive our selves of it and not be angry 5. For the anger of JESUS was furnished with two conditions which commonly ours does want wherefore his was most vertuous and laudable ours vicious and reproachfull That of IESUS never prevented or surprized Him He had it not but when in what manner and so much as He would In in effect 't is sayd in the Gospell that He troubled himself and not that He was troubled S. Iohn 11. 13. S. Marke 14. 33. And again in the Vigill of his Passion He began to fear not before though He had a longtime the object present in his Spirit Anger did not prejudice the use of his reason it cast no darknes nor obscurity into his understanding it hindred him not to proceed most wisely and with entire circumspection in his actions His rod says Hieremiah is a watching rod which Hierom. 1. 11. hath open eyes to see where it strikes and how it strikes his anger is a zeal and not a passion most reasonable and most just Ours on the contrary is generally blind inconsiderate and rash It prevents the judgment and darkens reason and is the cause we know not what we do and that we do nothing that is good 6. All that you say or do in passion is never well sayd or well don and though you should speak golden sentences though you should do wonders they make no account of them they attribute them to your passion and not to you as they attribute to the liquor all that a man says or does in drink becaus they know a man drunk with liquor or with passion is uncapable to say or do any thing of worth So the Civil Laws I. Quocqd Si. de Reg Iur. 4. king 3. declare we ought not to regard what you say or do in the heat of passion if you persever not in it when your anger is allayed Eliseus finding himself moved by a just anger would not pronounce his Oracles and instruct the Kings but called a Musitian to appeas first the commotion by the gravity of his musick He knew well that a soul troubled with passion is uncapable Psal 106 27. S. Iames. 1. 20. of celestial lights And that anger of man works not the justice of God It belongs not but to IESUS and to his holy Mother to do a thing well in the heat of passion 7. Moreover there is a second difference of his and our anger His is never mixt with bitterness nor exercised with a desire of vengeance when He is angry and punishes us it is not out
us after this not unprofitable digression return to the definition 5. Dictum vel factum a word or action In this word Action is couched Omission when you can do an action which would hinder the offence of God and you do it not IESVS being required to pay tribute declares himself not oblig'd and nevertheless he pay'd it lest He should scandalize the farmers So the Virgin circumcised her Son and submitted herself to the law of purification for fear of giving ill example So S. Paul says the Ancient Philosophers having known the true God by the light of nature and having not communicated this knowledg to the rest of men to draw them from Idolatry incurr'd the anger of God and were guilty of all sins the people committed for want of that knowledg We are then culpable when we ought to correct reprehend or punish the defects of others and do not we scandalise them for they say there is no ill in this my Parents Confessor Superior say nothing to me of it 6. Minus rectum This word teaches us that if an action be good and laudable commanded by God or his Church we ought not to omit it though our neighbor be scandalized by it if one is scandalized when you say the truth 't is better to permit scandal then to oppose Verity says S. Gregory T is a Pharisaical scandal a S. Greg. hom 7. in Ezec. passive scandal not an active a scandal taken not given 7. And if the action be good and laudable but not of obligation ought we to omit it if one will be scandalized by it S. Thomas answers learnedly with a distinction either our neighbour is scandalized maliciously and out of a spirit of contradiction 2. 2. q. 43. ar 7. or is scandalised through ignorance or infirmity if he be scandalised maliciously we ought not to omit our good worke for 't is his own fault and not ours He does as the Pharesees who were scandalized maliciously by the predications of IESUS But IESUS contemn'd their scandal and left not off his preaching If he be scandalized through ignorance or through weakness 't is better to do your good worke in private or to omit it for a time than to give an occasion to your neighbor to fall into any sin And with much more reason if the action be of it self indifferent neither good nor evill charity obliges us to omit it when it would be an occasion of sin or temptation to our neighbor If you offend your neighbor giving him occasion of sin through his weakness you offend our Lord and therefore If I know my brother is scandalized to see me eate flesh I will never eate it lest I scandalize my hrother says S. Paul 1. Cor. 8. 12. Rom. 14. 15. 20. And again do not with thy meat destroy him for whom CHRIST dyed Destroy not the worke of God for meat Though then an action be permitted if it be not commanded we must abstain from it if it be a snare or stumblingblock to infirme and weak soules 8. Prebens alicui giving occasion to our neighbor Some may imagin that 't is not to be scandalous if they do not a publick action which is manifest to many But our Saviour says if you move Matt. 18. to sin but one only you are scandalous You say they are simple and weak people that are tempted by such an action or such a word the wise and well grounded in vertue are not moved by it IESUS says you must not scandalize one of the lesser ones unum de pusillis and S. Paul tells us that in scan dalizing the weak ones we sin against IESUS-CHRIST And the Son of God adds Voe mundo a scandalis Woe to the world for scandalls He Speakes so becaus the world is full of them and becaus they destroy so many souls so dear and precious to him 9. It seems that soules are more dear to IESUS than his innocent blood He willed it should be prophan'd and trod under feet for the ransome of these beloved soules I leave you to think what punishment and what reproches we shal receive from him if by our bad exemple or by our negligence we let any one of these soules fall into sin and damnation Believe that in the houre of your death nothing will cause you more regret nor afflict you more than the sight of the soules which by your fault are lost You will acknowledg this truth and feel the weight of these dreadfull words Vae homini illi per quem scandalum venit woe to the persone by whom Matt. 18. 7. Scandal coms You will see all the graces God had given to soules through your fault lost all the merits they had gotten all that our Saviour did and suffered for their salvation and you will with sorrow and sighing say Ha! I have destroy'd soules for which JESUS CHRIST dyed how shal I restore to him the blood which He hath shed vae homini illi wo be to that person It were better for you one had tyed a milstone about your neck and thrown you into the Sea You will see the excellency and the value of the soules you have cast away and this will oppress you with griefe as if you had a milstone upon your heart You will see that those who learnt of you the vanities of the world will teach their children them these will derive them to their descendents unto the third or fourth generation all which will be imputed to you this sight will cast you even into despaire Will you avoyd this miserable condition Do not by bad examples indiscreet words or negligence destroy a soul for whom IESUS CHRIST dyed But if you have been so unhappy do judgment and justice punish your fault by true penance repair the loss as much as lies in you bring back the lost sheep to IESUS or if you cannot gain another in his stead by prayers instructions aâ—d good examples so you may be confident of pardon God hath promised it Amen DISCOVRS XXXVI OF THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDEMENTS thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not couet thy neighbours Wife Amongst all the irregular motions of a man there is none more contrary to his nature nor more abominable to the Creatour than the unhappy vice of carnality It is contrary to mans nature becaus it is beastly terrestrial and unworthy of a man In anger envy pride ambition there is some kind of spirit But luxury clouds the understanding depresses the faculties of the soul renders her unable to elevate her self above the objects of sense and impaires all that is manly in us 2. This vice is abominable to God who repented to have made man and sent a deluge to drowne the earth who consuin'd by fire four of the most florishing cityes of the world and slautered 24 thousand of his people at one time and 60 thousand at another in punishment of this sin Though this vice be so contrary to a man and
common to all Christians by which they may pay to God their Duties and receive from him his favours 8. But IESUS is not only the Authour and Institutor of Sacraments He is moreover the Dispencer of them who vouchsafes to confer and administer them to you to confer them I say not only as an universall and general caus but also as a special and particular 9. The Nature and the Essence of a Sacrament is to be a visible and effective signe of divine and invisible grace And they have very great resemblance with the Authour of grace with the subject of grace and with the effect of grace The Authour of grace is IESUS CHRIST Man God and the Sacraments represent him very naturally For as IESUS CHRIST if one may speak so is but a holy and wonderfull Compositum of the divine Word and humane nature so a Sacrament is but a compositum of the word of the Priest and of the material Element The subject of grace is the person that receives it he is composed of body and soul And the matter of the Sacrament is applyed to his body and the form which consists in words teaches excites and animates the faith and the devotion of his soul The effects of grace are different and very well represented by the exteriour signes or Sacraments The effect of Baptismal grace is to cleanse the soul from original sin and to temper the ardours of concupiscence and what is more proper to represent these effects than water The effect of Eucharistical grace is to feed nourish and cherish our souls and what is more proper to signify this nourishment than the species of bread we may say the same of the other Saments as we shal see God ayding when we treat of each one In particular let us content our selves at present to see that the Sacraments are practical and effective signes of the grace they signify of which only it now remains to speak 10. This word Grace in the Scripture and in the language of the Faithfull is taken in divers senses First it is taken sometimes for all favours that God does us also in the order of nature other times for free gifts of God term'd graces gratis given becaus they are not given for the deserts not for the benefit of the Receiver but for the good of the Church as the gifts of prophecie preaching and working miracles 11. 'T is not in any of these senses that 't is taken treating of the Sacraments 'T is taken for habitual and sanctifying grace which is a most excellent quality that Sanctifys us and renders us holy and just before God that makes us children of the eternal Father Brothers and Coheires with IESUS CHRIST living Temples of the holy Ghost Kings of heaven and Partakers of the Divine nature says S. Peter 2. Ep. 1. ss 7. can 6. 13. 'T is an article of Faith declar'd by the councell of Trent that all sacraments of the christian Church give Sanctifying grace to all that receive them worthyly If there were a Confessor so rich and liberal that he would give five or six Guinnies to all that should com and confess to him and as often as they should com who would not go would he not be opprest with people We are not Christians if we believe not firmly that as often as we confess or receive other sacrament as we ought we acquire a greater treasure than if one should give us a thousand guinnys yes in the ballance of Gods judgment and in the esteem of wisemen one only degree of grace is more precious and more worth than all the riches of the Indies becaus grace is of a superior order to all the goods of nature 14. But by the sacraments you receive not only one degree of grace but many In Isaiah it is sayd You shal draw waters in joy out of the Saviours fountaines 'T is not sayd you shal receive they shal be given you But you shal draw t is not sayd out of cisterns But out of fountaines if it were sayd you shal receive grace you might think that you should receive but as much as one would give you But since t is sayd that you may draw and also out of fountaines which cannot be drain'd you may take as much of it as you will The measure of the greater or lesser quantity of water that you draw out of a fountaine is not in the fountaine it self but in the greatness or littleness of the vessell wherein you draw it so the measure of the greater or lesser grace you receive in sacraments is not in the sacraments themselves but in the greater or lesser disposition which you bring it you com to them with much of faith attention contrition humility devotion fervour and love of God you will receive in them much grace if you go to them with little disposition you will receive but little and consequently 't is more profitable to confess and to communicate one only time with-great devotion than 5. or 6 times with little disposition 14. Moreover the sacraments give not only habitual and sanctifying grace but also actual and auxiliary graces which ayd us to obtain the end for which each Sacrament was instituted I explicate my self when you receive holy Orders in a good state and with the disposition that you ought in the sanctifying grace which you receive is included a promise which God makes you to give you actual graces to perform well the divine office to instruct the people to administer the Sacraments and to do other ecclesiastical functions to which you are apply'd and consecrated by holy Orders If you marry in a good state and as a christian in the sanctifying grace which you receive is containd a promise that God makes you to give you in occasions actual and auxiliary graces to live peaceably with your husband to breed up well your children to resist temptations against conjugal chastity and to practise other vertues to which marriage obliges you By which you see the great prejudice you do your selves when either you neglect or receive unworthily the Sacraments you deprive your selves of innumerable graces which God would oblige himself to give you in the rest of your life as the appurtenances and attendants of the grace which you should have receiv'd 16. This will render you extreamly culpable in the judgment of God and you will dye with great regret seeing you had so souveraigne remedies and helps and that you neglected so much to profit by them know that the Sacraments are talents of inestimable value but which are given us with an obligatioâ— to gain by them In S. Matthew IESUS compares himself to a Lord who gave Talents to his servants and finding that he who had receiv'd Mat. 25. but one had not gaind with it sayd cast the unprofitable servant out into exteriout darkness there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth What then would He have don to him if he had lost his talent what