stuft up with Earth and Dung Those light-footed Deers are the days of her life which with a great deal of speed conducted her to Death That jeering smile shewed the vanity of all her greatness and Pleasures This breaking of the Vessel the seperation of the Soul from the Body In fine Omnes eodem eogimur omnium Versatur urna serius ocius Sors exitura nos en aeternum Exitium impositura Cymba Horat. lib. 2. Carm. the whole exposed to the publick view was a brave instruction to the Youth of Rome to curb them and stop the course of their insolency But let us not seek for so Antient a fact let us go and open some Tomb wherein of late days is cast some rare young Beauty which Death had overcome Imagine with your self dear Reader this Carcass to be left in your Chamber Ask it the question What is become of those fair eyes which were but two days since seen to open with such Majesty Circum ferabatur apud Aegyptios inter pocula sceletus hoc est corporis ossea duntaxat compage exextantiseffigies in memoriam ut ajunt manerotis isidis alumni quem annis innocentibus immatura morte fata praeripuerant Herodot l. 11. Petron. in Satyrico and give a bold look at the admirers to shut down their lids for shame to be dazled with fear to grow black with sadness to be inflamed with anger to grow mild and smile at a Lover Where are those optick Veins which carried by their continuation the usual ray on the very door-case of the Eye to receive the Species and frame the Image of such as were represented Exteriourly Where are those Tunicks and little thin skins which locked up so artificially all humours that nothing should annoy this great little Master-piece of Nature All That is no more but a stinking Dunghill mixed with nasty Blood more horrible to be seen than ever was the Carcass of Helena which Menippus had perceived in the dark Dungeon of Hell But what is become of that pure white proper and well set Body so pamper'd so carefully wash'd so curiously deck'd so interlac'd with thousands of Sky-colour'd Veins which Nature had fram'd as a Net to intangle all men in her Love all is nothing now but a rotten lump of Flesh where Worms have taken up their quarters to feed at their ease Let us go further to find out the Heart first alive and at last dead whence proceeded all Passions as so many Sovereign Ladies and Queens of that little World Alas It 's now but a small handful of ashes the least touch will reduce it to dust as the Apples of the Lake Asphatite where Sodom and Gomorrah stood heretofore There is no young man in the World let him be the greatest Ranter that ever was heard of if he will but consider seriously this doleful pourtraiture he will conceive a distast of all Earthly pleasures he will stop the course of his Debauch'd life knowing for certain the day will come that infallibly he will be brought to the same condition Damascenus in historia Balaam Josaphat testatur priscas Sanctorum reliquias religiosè in theca ex collo pendente gestasse non tantum venerationis sed memoriae mortis causa Tradition gives us to understand of the Patriarch Noah how after he had made an end of building an Ark and received Orders to get into it with all his Family The first thing he would have observ'd in his new House was that his Children should think often of Death as a strong motive to keep them from Vice and Deadly Sin And to bring them to this good Custom he commands them to go look for the Bones of Adam's Body which being all found and brought home to the Community except the hinder part of his Head which they left on the Mount Calvary for the accomplishment of the Messias Mysteries To one he he gives the Thigh-bone to another that of an Arm and to all the rest each one his proportion To the end they might always think that if God by his special Grace delivered them out of all danger of Shipwrack and Deluge Yet they were not exempted from the inevitable Laws of Death If Jonathan thought of that Sentence in time he would not take the news of his Death so much to Heart And we should not know by Scripture the weakness of his Courage and the main excess of his Grief which made him say with a weeping Tone Alas for having tasted a little Honey must I die so soon I did as yet but begin to receive the sweet Air of Life and here already I am summon'd to march off to take up my Lodging in the thick and dark shadows of an Eternal Night Nature to me is a most Cruel Step-mother to shew me so much of her Pleasures and presently to cut me off before I tasted of their sweetness We must then acknowledge that of all Exteriour means the most serious thought of Death is the strongest to move Youth to their Conversion Ponite quotidie ante oculos vestros finem vestrum cogitate cujus erunt quid vobis proderunt quae post vos remanebunt haec cogitate haec inter vos die ac nocte in secreto in publico tractate S. Anselm ad Burgundium macherum ejus conjugem Epist As for Kings Princes and Monarchs who by the eminency of their Dignities should seem to be out of all fear being that all Creatures shew them their Obedience as to the Gods of the Earth What made them undervalue and forsake their Scepters and Crowns to live in a Desart as Josaphat Son to the great Abenner Who was it that oblig'd them to quit their Palaces and Royal Houses for to lead in a Cloister the Life of a poor Religious man as a Charles the Great Who perswaded them to have a greater esteem for the Cross of Jesus than for the Richest Treasures the World can afford as a Constontine but the Thoughts of Death Leonitus in the Life of the Ancient Fathers relates That at the Coronation of the Emperours in the City of Constantinople before they had gone further in their Ceremonies Vide apud Xiphilium in domit funebre convivium domitavi there would come a number of Sculptures every one with his Marble in his Hand who Addressing themselves to the Emperour ready to be Crown'd would make him this Complement Sacred Majesty according to the Custom of your Predecessors and the Order Establish'd in the Ceremonies of your Vnction here we do Prostrate ourselves at your Feet with these Marbles and our Request is to be inform'd by your Majesty what form we shall give your Tomb O my God! what different Ceremonies have we here On the one side I see Pallaces Louvres and Imperial-Houses preparing to receive the Prince with a great deal of Honour And on the other side I hear of nothing but Stones Tombs and Sepulchres wherein he is to
Virtue without shineing Jesus Christ trod under foot God altogether forgotten and what is most deserving of our respects set at naught and utterly disdained For my part I remit the off-spring of those disorders to the want of believing the Immortality of Souls For wherever that pernicious errour has crept that all dyes with the Body they may attempt on the Sacred Persons of Kings and without any respect to the Divinity whereof they are the lively Images on Earth treat them unworthily so be that their dealings be underboard For if all dyes with the Body and that there is no account to be taken of their crimes after death If they do betray the State if they do sell their Country if they do commit the most horrid crimes that ever were heard of they may fear no punishment if that unhappy belief takes place in their Spirits Let the great ones oppress the little ones let the rich cut the poor peoples throats let the enemy execute his vengeance all is permitted to him who gives no more advantage to his Soul than to that of a bruit beast Let them speak no more of the commandments of God of the Sacraments of the Church of the reward reserved for the good in Heaven of the punishments prepared for the wicked in Hell if there be no more in man then Living and Dying we may say as much of the Patriarchs of Religious Orders Benedict Bernard Dominick Francis that they have not obliged their Children to bring them from the World to pass over the best of their days in crucifying of their Bodies For if the Souls be not Immortal all those sufferings are but a meer oppression of Innocency I have heretofore joyned my small weak Prayers to the common Vows of all France for a Blessing from Heaven for our Sovereigns Arms whilst he had them in his hands to fight against Heresy but I will have a thousand times more sensible feelings of his Piety and Courage when he shall make appear his Power and Authority to suppress those unfortunate execrements of Nature who are so bold as to lift up their Horns to strike at Piety In the mean time I call you again brave Chrysanthus and Musonius most worthy Prelates of the Church get out of your Tombs pierce the Rock of your Sepulchres and announce unto us your Belief in this point of the Immortality of Souls Chrysanthus and Musonius were two Famous Bishops among them who assisted at the general Councel of Nice in the year 1328 where the two Articles of the Resurrection of the Flesh and of the Life Everlasting were particularly treated of it happened that these two great Prelates died before the conclusion of the Councel After the Fathers had Signed all and each of the Acts they brought the Papers on the Tombs of the Deceased with this humble supplication Holy Fathers the well beloved of God who have assisted at the Acts of this present Councel as we have found you always Faithful to maintain the Rights of the Church the Faithful Spouse of your Master and Ours and as you have Fought with us to defend her against her Enemies So We do beseech you if you have as yet the same feelings with us of the Articles proposed that you may set your honds to these present Papers A thing truly to be admired next Morning they found that all was Signed with their proper hands If that Article of it self cannot be contradicted but by him who will deny the Principles of Nature the Authority of the Holy Ghoct and all common feelings can there be Christians found hereafter who will live in the World as if all would die with the Body But if they do believe the Immortality of Souls how can it be that they have no thoughts but for the Earth It 's a folly like that of a Merchant who Freights a Vessel to go to the Indies to Peron to China to enrich himself And being arrived where the Mines of Gold and Silver are he spends his time in looking at the Hills that are about the place the Streams that are underneath the Woods that are hard by and does not think of loading his Ship nor of returning back to his Country God has placed our Souls in our Bodies as in a Mystical Vessel it 's to load us with the Goods of Eternity and the Merchandize of Heaven One spends his time with pampering of his Flesh another to build a Fortune in the Air This Man Fights with the Winds that Man Paints on the Waters and none thinks that his Soul is Immortal nor that she is to return to her Country some day was there ever the like folly That was a strong Receipt and more than ordinary Plato in eo qâ— Carmi. which Zamolxis a Physician of Thrace gave to a young Man whom Plato calls Carmis Son to Glaucon who complained of a great pain in his head and of a Megrim which made him giddy-brain'd He orders no cooling Plaisters to be applyed to him no opening of a Vein no Scarrifications he will have his Soul to be Purged assuring that the Infirmities of the Body proceed from the alterations of this Principle This Purging is no other than a discharging of all feelings of the Earth to bring her to the thoughts of Immortality This is the Receipt which Jesus prescribes to all those who are willing to convert themselves I will make bold to borrow the words of Seneca the Moral Phylosopher Seneca Ep. 102 to make the Induction thereby If the Infirmities of the Body trouble your Health and that by redoubling their rigours they bring you to Death's door rejoyce as the Prisoner at the first news of his Liberty For Death is no other thing than an enlargement of the Soul out of the Prison of the Body where she sighs under the Irons and Chains of corrupt Nature If any ask you the question which is your Countrey and your Native place do not say that it is Alexandria or Smyrna No tell boldly that it is Heaven being there is nothing here on Earth can content your heart nor set a stop to your expectations for all rouls under the unavoidable Laws of Mortality Consider that even as the Mother which carried you in her Womb was not resolved to lodge you there still but that after nine months space you should come weeping into the World So the World that has harboured you for a time had no design to give you a perpetual residence but only to suffer you to refresh your self as a passenger without any tie to the place where you have lodged by way of civility only and as a Passenger not as a Proprietor This vale of Misery is but an Inne the Riches are but Honours and Vanity the Pleasures are the Houshold-stuff Man is the Pilgrim and Traveller he is not permitted to carry any thing along with him he must first account with his Host and after march off from whence he came and as he has
Neighbour proceeds further he finds out means either to burn or take away his Titles Contracts and Publick Instruments which might make out the Righteousness of his Possession and at the same time he forges others to debar him from his pretensions These are the proceedings of the Flesh against the Spirit the Soul had three fair Contracts to shew and drawn in a very good form in the first state of her Creation The one was of Original Justice the other of the Gift of Immortality and the third of the Infusion of Science The Contract of Original Justice has put her in Possession of the Sanctifying Grace according to the feelings of all the Fathers who by these words of Genesis Let us make man to our Image and Resemblance takes the Image for her constitution in her intelligible being and the resemblance for her interiour ornament through the infusion of Grace after which comes Charity The Queen of all Virues waited on by all moral perfections which as Ladies of Honour are always inseperable from her the Justice then comes first Leader and Chief among the Cardinals with the rest that follow immediately the Theological all which in the first instant did acknowledge God for their object and were so punctual to serve him on occasions that nothing could be imagined better ordered in that litle Common-wealth Man was admitted to the Privy Councel of the King of Glory so far as to know the most secret affairs of the Divinity as was the decree of the redemption of mankind in the fulness of time by sending one of the Divine Persons who uniting himself to humane Nature would discharge her of her Debts in rigour of Justice Moreover by Virtue of his Contract he had not only reasonable inclinations towards his Creator but as yet his Will did taste with so much sweetness of all manner of things which concern'd the Divine Worship that the sensitive appetite has not so much of sensible pleasure in the enjoyment of her delights The Contract of Immortality exempted Adam and all them who by Original propagation were to come from his Race from that rigorous tribute of Death whereby the Soul could have received a great advantage for by this means she would have shunn'd the experience of what grief and sorrow she met with in the seperation when that those two essential pieces of Man the Soul and Body so perfectly united comes to break off I must confess this Contract was not grounded on any right of nature because that man suffers within himself a continual War of four contrary qualities which at last must end his life to begin his Death and therefore he could not expect to be Immortal by Nature Mortalis erat Adam conditione corporis animalis immortalis autem beneficio conditoris D. Aug. in c. 7. Genes but even as the King who is above the common Laws of his Kingdom dispenses with whom he pleases So God says St. Augustin did order that Man Mortal by the condition and property of his animal Body should be Immortal by the benefice of his Prince Ne mors undequaque subreperet vel senectute confecti decursis temporum spatiis interirent Idem ibid. A Benefice nail'd to the Tree of Life by an adherent quality which acted this great wonder that eating the Fruit which hung from the Branches it did not only give nourishment to the Body to preserve Life but also was an expulsive Medicine of all gatherings of ill Humours to keep him always in the just proportion of a perfect health Infusione non per se sed per accidens The Contract of the Infusion of science did raise the Spirit of man from the very instant of his Creation to the perfect knowledge of all natural things God having granted him that Grace that whereas now we spend years and ages to attain to some little knowledge of Learning in one instant he would become an able Phylosopher For whatever thing he would apply himself to either Material Spiritual or Divine he would easily draw from thence all possible consequences by way of nature In material things he had a clear knowledge of their constitutive Principles of their genius difference properties and accidents he gave to each thing Names which were evident signs and marks of their substance that from one they would easily come to the knowledge of the other The motion of the Heavens Ordinary Extraordinary Influences Aspects Regards Positions Colours Zodiack Eccliptick Signs Constellations and the wonderful enclosure of all the Globes one into another without confusion all that was the entertainment of his Spirit In Spiritual things the very Angels met under the sphere of his Activity and made up a part of the object of his science for though he had no material Species of the Angel being that the matter cannot be the Image of the Spirit nevertheless by illations and Universal consequences by proportion of the Soul whose Functions are Intellectual he could conclude the existence of a being purely Spiritual without any mixture of matter In Divine things there was no Creature in the World wherein he did not consider either the trace or Image of God and carrying his understanding from visible to invisible things would conclude that of necessity there was one originary cause a primum mobile a Soveraign Agent Fomes peccati The Body after he had corrupted nature did falsifie burn and corrupt all those Titles Contracts and Priviledges Substituting in their place the Leven of concupiscence In the practice of Courts they would call that a demising which the Soul makes of all her rights to the Body not having courage enough to maintain them This is what St. Paul calls the Law of sin which causes the Soul that she dares not appear to hold her own rank in the quality of a Princess by the excellency of her extraction nor to have her self obeyed as Mistress and Regent of the Body Her cowardliness makes her to take with the vile and abject condition of a Servant and receive the Laws of the Flesh whereas she ought to command absolutely CHAP. XXXVII The third unjust Usurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit THe Meers and Bounds being taken away the Contracts confounded the bad Neighbour seizes on the Inheritance sells and alienates all that he can What a grief is it to a poor man to see before his eyes all his Chief and best Goods proscribed the hangings of his Halls the Beds and rich Furniture of his Rooms Quisque peccando animam suam diabolo vendit accepta tanquam pretio dulcedine temporalis voluptatis D. Aug. in expos propositionum ad Rom. Num 4. the brave Linnen conserved so long a time in the Coffers all seized on all exposed to sale If for to conserve the memory of his race he would fain buy one of the Pieces they make him pay a double rate for it The Body deals the same with the Soul he sets all her moveable Goods
Caelo super c. Rom. c. 1. v. 18. with Scandalous Invectives shall they not fall into the same misfortune that the King of Jerusalem did and suffer the punishments which his Sentence did bear The Apostle Saint Paul speaks of a certain anger of God reveal'd by the Heavens to chastise the Impiety of some Souls who do retain his Verities in Injustice I know well that in the natural sense of the Letter Vera Dei cognitio quantum est de se inducit homines ad bonum Sed ligatur quasi captivitate detenta per injustitiae affectum per quam ut in Psalmo dicitur diminutae sunt veritates a filiis hominum D. Tho. in hunc locum he would speak of them who before the Incarnation though they had known the necessary Being of a Divinity highly establish'd in the Principles of Nature dare not nevertheless whether for fear or otherwise publish the belief of it But I am deceiv'd if he had not also a design to intimate unto Christians the Chastisements of Heaven ordain'd against them who in an unjust silence would detain captive the most adorable Mistery of the Incarnation And in effect what is it otherwise to hold the Verity of God in Injustice as St. Augustine remarks but to shut up Jesus Christ and his Graces in a Prison under the locks of a perverse will 'T is this consideration has mov'd me to choose among other Subjects which I bethought of to furnish matter to my Pen Spiritus Domini super me propter quod unxit me evangelirare pauperibus misit me sanare contritos corde Luke 4. v. 18. to treat of the Infirmities which are incident to our corrupt Nature having my self contracted a share of them in the Subterranean Mansion where the late Troubles have confin'd me for the space of two years And as the sick Body can have no sweeter thoughts than them of a Cure for his Distemper I resolv'd to treat of a Powerful Remedy for the Salvation of our Souls whose Health is infinitely more to be desir'd than that of the Body adoring always the receipt of our Soveraign Doctor fix'd on the Cross I will discourse of this Remedy with a methodical instruction of a singular application to each sinner in particular Contritis per penitentiam datur gratia sanans vulnera peccatorum Lyran in c. 4. Luck I may well give this little work the Title of the Second Nativity of Jesus among men being that it is the Accomplishment of his Adorable Incarnation We shall give it a further Light in our following Discourses For the present it will suffice to say in short that as it was necessary of a conditional necessity that the Son of God should Incarnate himself in the womb of the Virgin to re-establish Humane Nature in general in the Rights of Heaven Even so it is necessary of a like necessity that the same Son by the actual application of his Graces do descend into the Heart of each one in particular before they can pretend to the least Happiness of Paradice 'T is that actual application of the Graces and infinite merits of Jesus to each sinner in particular which may be well called the Second Nativity of Jesus Holy Virgin pardon me if you please I do not doubt but that at this sole word of Second Nativity your Heart Saintly jealous of the Title of Divine Maternity will straitly oblige me to put it out of all apprehension of any Ferreign Interest being that to You alone and with exclusion to all others doth appertain to be the true Mother of Jesus Multae mulieres beatificaverunt Sanctam Virginem illam ejus uterum optaverunt tales fieri matres D. Chrysost hom 450. in Matth. refertur in cat ad c. 12. Matth. and to Jesus to be your true Natural Son Ah! Princess of Heaven who would ever dare to contest with You the Honour of that Quality which is the Source of all our Happiness and the greatest of all your Titles If St. Chrysostome said heretofore That many Women Sanctifying your Person and Blessing the Sacred Fruit of your Womb have desir'd to be the Mother of God as you are they were but simple wishes which had rather for their Object the admiration and ravishment of your Felicity than the belief of ever being able to attain to it Your Dearly Beloved Son how ever has thaught you heretofore what we ought to understand by that way of speaking when that with his own mouth he did establish another kind of Maternity compatible with yours Quae est mater mea qui sunt fratres mei extendens manum in discipulos dixit ecce mater mea fratres mei Mat. c. â— 2. v 48. Do you remember O Blessed Virgin how you have heard him when as he stood at the gates of the Temple some one went to tell him that his Mother and Brothers were looking for him He dissembling but a dissembling replenish'd with Mysteries demands as if it were abruptly who is my Mother and who are my Brethren And at the same time stretching his Hand towards his Disciples there is said he my Mother there are my Brethren For who ever fulfils the will of my Father who is in Heaven he is my Brother my Sister and my Mother St. Jerome believes that he who brought this news to our Saviour was carried on by malice and evil Faith because that he would fain try if the Messias Non autem fastidiosè de matre sua sâ—â—â—sse existimaâ—â—â—â—s est cui in passione positus maximae sollicitudinis tribuit affectum D. Hilar. Canon 12. in fine who treated of no other thing before the Scribes and Pharisees but of the Will of God his Father and of the Marvails of Heaven would not suffer himself to be carried away with the unruly affections of Blood and Flesh thereby to interpret sinistrously the Purity of his Designes 'T is therefore he answers to the intention of his Adversary without any regard to the Literal signification of his Words And so makes appear that far from disowning her that was inseperably joyn'd to him in the fact of Predestination But on the contrary as Mary is no other than a Virgin and the Mother of God in the immovable project of Eternity So Jesus in the plenitude of times could not behold her otherwise than under this venerable Title which by the Law of Nature doth oblige to all respects He doth suppose then that she is his Natural Mother And adds a kind of Consanguinity of Love which ought to be found in all sorts of Faithful who by the accomplishment of the Caelestial wills shall deserve to engender again Jesus Christ in their Hearts In propria venit c. Joan. 1. v. 12. wherein not only the Women as St. Chrysostome says but also the men may be the Mothers of God What a Pleasure it is to hear St. John explain the sacred Subordination of that double
reality of this Mystery than to have recourse to the Holy Sacrament of the Altar and to say that after the Sacramental words pronounc'd by the Priest in the Consecration the Body of our Saviour is there really present not in Figure as our Adversaries say but really and in Substance Even so immediately after the last disposition of a Penitent Soul which is a true and hearty disliking his offences with a firm resolution of amendment God is really and truly present to that Soul by a most intimate and intire communication of his Nature and of all what he has so far that if it were possible that God should not be present with all other things by Presence Power Cornel. in c. 2. Act and Essence he must of necessity be found in a heart that is in the state of Grace The Royal Prophet did foresee somewhat of the greatness of these wonders Omnis consummationis vidi finem lâ—tum mandatum minis Ps 118. I have seen says he the end of all Consummation as if he had said I often imploy'd my understanding to consider the ways of the Infinite Wisdom of God in his government and conduct of men Quid enim latius hoc mandato dilectionis quo sic meus humana dilatatur ut intra substantiae suae palatium majestatum possit capere patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Rupert lib. 11. in Joan. cap. 3. the greatness of the care and esteem he has for them But I must ingeniously confess that the Master-piece of all his Wonders the Abridgement of his Clemency and the consummation of his Love is to see that a Sinner converted by the powerful Assistance and attractions of Grace receives and contains in the Substance of his Heart all the Three Persons of the Trinity And that all three do concur with all their activity to draw from the purest Affections of the Soul whereby to Organize a second Son of God Ut sit ipse primogentius in multis Fratribus Rom. 8. who without any prejudice to the First his Eldest Brother will bear his Image and perfect resemblance as being his younger Brother by Adoption Apoc. 22. Angels of Heaven use what Compliments you please to St. John who offers to prostrate himself at your feet tell him if you think it fit that you are his most humble Fellow Servants and that you will never admit of his submission For my part I will not fear to say that did I know for certain that a man were in the State of Grace I would make him a more profound Reverence than even to the sign of the Cross For though the Cross puts me in mind of the shameful Death on mount Calvary however it is but a Sanctification grounded on the bare touching of our Saviours Body which supposes no other Title of special presence besides the general which is Essential to all things I would behave my self towards him and in a manner treat him with as much respect as I would the most Happy and ever Blessed Virgin whilst she bore in her Chaste womb her dearly Beloved Jesus setting always aside the dignity of Mother which extols her above all degrees and orders of Saints and Angels to the Honour and Worship of Hyperdulium My reason for it is that as the real Existence of the Child in the Womb of Mary is the ground of my Respects Even so the intimate presence of the three Divine Persons in the justify'd Soul should oblige me to pay her my most humble Respects and Homages The Patriarchs and Prophets did with frequent Sighs wish and long for that Happy day which was appointed from all Eternity to let them see the Messias Ah! Earth they would say open your bosom and spread wide open your womb to bring us forth the fruit of life the Flower of the field the Lilly of the valleys Heavens give free passage to the sweet influence of that Coelestial dew which hath been so long since promis'd to us Moments shall be to us as days Days as Years Years as Ages and Ages as Eternity until we see the expected by all Nations Jesus the Redeemer of the World Let him come he shall possess our Hearts and have our Affections let him be Incarnate we will Adore him let him appear and we will all follow him If I durst authorize the design of this little work on the ardent Sighs of Patriarchs and Prophets and on their earnest desire to see Jesus in the state of his last Nitivity I might say that all the following discourses are but so many wishes lanc'd towards that happy moment wherein we shall see Souls disclose their Breasts and enlarge their Affections to give a free passage to the Sacred influences of the Divine Spirit who may give therein a second Nativity to Jesus Wishes which the Antient Bishop of Sevile did express in handsom terms and in the name of the Church Laetare ergo in Domino eo quod non sis fraudata a defiderio tuo nam quos tanto tempore gemitu tristi oratione continua concepisti nunc post glaciem hyemis post duritiem frigoris post asperitatem nivis velut secundam agrorum frugem laetos veris flores vel arridentes vinearum stipitibus palmites repente in gaudio peperisti Leand. episc Epispal orat de convers Gothorum which had seen the accomplishment thereof in the Conversion of the Goths Rejoyce you in the Lord O Mother for a time sad and very much perplex'd because you have not been disappointed in your expectations for at one only Birth you have engendred an Infinite number of People to your Christ Them that you have conceiv'd so long ago by the sadness of your Tears and the continuation of your Prayers you see them now engendred to your great satisfaction and joy even as we see with content a Rich Harvest in the fields the Flowers of Spring-time on little Hills and Blossoms on the Vine-trees after the Frost of Winter and when the sharpness of Cold and Snow are gone and past CHAP. III. Who ought to be the Father in this second Nativity THough humane nature has produc'd a Mother to the Son of God yet it was not in her Power to give him a Father and if it had she would not presume to offer him one for fear of losing the value and dignity of the price which this Divine Child was to give for the payment of our Debts If he be call'd the Son of man It 's either as St. Epiphane remarks that it is he who ought to be Incarnate according to the prediction of the Prophets Epiph. Adversus naetianos her 57. or as St. Gregory of Nazianzen observes Because he was descended from Adam the common Father of Mortals by the way of our Blessed Lady D. Greg. orat 4. de Theol. But the most solid reason in my judgment is that of St. Augustine who will have that the Messias be call'd the Son of man
Child Jesus in Pain and Sorrow For to Groan is a Legacy left by our Fore-fathers to such as are Criminals only The Virgin which never was attainted with the least spot was never also condemned to the least Punishment and though she has been the Mother of a Son of Sorrow yet she was safely deliver'd of Him without the least feeling of either Pain or Sorrow It is also to my thinking Tostat in c. 12. levit 9. q. 24. a blemish to Christian Piety to say that her bearing of Jesus was accompany'd with the emission of her Blood which can hardly be done without Violence Rupture or Contusion if that were so Vide Suar. tom 273. p. 935. disp 13. sect 2. how can we free her from Sorrow Doubtless the Holy Ghost had so great a tenderness for that rare piece of work as not to suffer that it should be born in the filth of a superfluous Blood he had so great a care of both the Mother and Child as not to have them to be expos'd to the shame of that uncleanness which is only incident to the Criminal and common race of Adam No no her happy Delivery was without those Infections of Blood she was far from those Infirmities of Nature not only from those that are the punishments of Sin but also from those which cannot subsist with the Holiness of this Mystery Stulte unde sordes in Virgine Matre ubi non est concubitus cum homine Patre D. Aug. tract 20. cont faustum cap. 3. lib. de 5. haeres c. 5. It is a main folly says St. Augustin to look for dirt in a Virgin Mother who never permitted the approaches of any Man-Father And it is for that reason that she was not subject to the Laws of Purification because that in Breeding she was of the Nature of the Lillies or as St. Cpyrian will have it Jesus proceeds from her Womb Maria genitrix obstetrix nullus dolor nulla naturae contumelia in hoc puerperio D. Cyprian ser de nat as the Fruit does from the Tree and the Beams from the Sun whence he concludes That in this Sacred and secret business she wanted not the assistance of a Midwife because that all filth and Infection of Nature was far from her pure and spotless Child-birth We must not think the same of the second Nativity for if there be question to bring forth a Soul according to the model of the Word Incarnate If the term and time be come to expose this fruit to the view of the World what violence what pangs what sorrows what emissions of Blood must be and appear and we must not think it strange if the Mother that bears the Fruit be condemn'd to the sorrows of Child-bearing this Truth shall appear more in its lustre if we will but understand who is that Mother of sorrow God has appear'd to be nothing less provident in the order of the Generation of Grace than he has been in that of the Generation of Nature for even as he provided Women of a Vessel fit for the reception of matter whereof their fruit is form'd and organiz'd to a certain time of increase at which they are brought by the powerful and provident hand of God to breath and enjoy at their ease the common life so says St. Ambrose Ita est quaedam virtus animae unae velut quodam vulvae genitalis secreto cogitationum nostratum suscipere semina conceptus fovere partes solet edere harum gerationum quaedam foeminine sunt quaedam masculinae c. D. Amb. li. 1. de Cain Abel cap. 10. infine God has put in the Soul of Man a certain Virtue as a Vessel to receive the Seed of Good Thoughts and Heavenly Inspirations whereof is form'd and organiz'd the fruit of Life which often miscarries by the common corruption of Nature so that often it falls out that among those Generations some are Feminine others Masculine The Feminine are Malice Wantonness Letchery Intemperance Impudence The Masculine are Chastity Patience Prudence Temperance Force and Justice In the following Book he continues to give an advice which may very much import to that sort of Generation and this is it never to delay or put off our delivery for fear that the same misfortune which our Saviour threatens us with in St. Luke Festina igitur anima c. paulo inferius in illo genitali alvo animae nostrae Christus refulgeat D. Amb l. 2. de Cain Abel c. 1. Statim initio should fall on our heads for our overmuch delay to bring forth our fruit into Light He will have us with all our force to press on that Coelestial formation to be the sooner happy to see a Beautiful Sweet Jesus who with his Charms may banish from our hearts the remembrance of what labours and toyl we were in to produce him Sicut quae concipit cum appropin quaverit ad partum dolens clamat in doloribus suis sic facti sumus a faciae tua Domine concepimus quasi parturivimus Spiritum salutis Isa c. 26. v. 17. That being suppos'd it is easie to make out that the Child-bearing of a true Conversion is always accompany'd with grief The Prophet I say is my Author for it Even as the Woman says he who is near her time and opprest with the pangs and pains of her Labour roars out weeps and laments her distress'd state and condition so O Lord before your face we are become to bring forth the Spirit of our Salvation as if he had said in plainer terms Lord you have been eye-witness of our Sterility you have seen how could we were and how slow to receive and make good use of your Admonishments what an undervalue we have always set on your Inspirations and Graces this has brought on our criminal and guilty heads a deal of afflictions and crosses Paulus non semel sed bis filios parturivit clamavit dicens filioli mei quos iterum parivrio id adeo mulier nunquam pateretur neque susferret eosdem iterum dolores sed tolerabat holl Paulus quod in natura non est videri nam annum totum saepe numero parturivit Paulus atque haud conceptos peperit D. Chrysol to 5. hom 10. de poenit vers 5. principium which have prest down our bodies to Misery and replenish'd our Souls with Grief and Sorrow It has brought from our Eyes bitter Tears and in this excess of our Grief and Sorrow we have conceiv'd and produc'd the Spirit of Salvation which undoubtedly had otherwise perish'd in our hearts as well as the Fawn in her Dams belly had not the noise and thundring of your Treatnings hast'ned her safe delivery The great and mighty Cry which our Saviour gave upon the Cross at the Sealing up of his Life with that heavy Sigh by which as another Rachel at the expiration of her nine Months he engendred Sinners the Children
Mortals The Incarnation in its Moral Being Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus Salvatoris Is 12. v. 3. is the wonderful Virtue of the Divine Sacraments which the Prophet-Royal calls The Fountains of our Saviour whence we ought to receive with joy the Waters of Grace which may conduce us to an everlasting Life So Baptism that represents his Death the Eucharist his Birth the Sacrament of Pennance his Resurrection are Moral Causes which by their formal Effects the Essential accomplishment of their Nature confers us Grace by the Virtue of the first Agent to whom they are only Instruments As for the Artificial Incarnation they are the amorous inventions of the Holy Ghost which bring along with them as many particular differences as they have divers Motives to bring us to good And as the Painter's design is never to leave off until he compleats the Pourtract according as he conceiv'd it in his mind even so the Holy Ghost whom our Saviour does promise to send to his Church has for the Sacred Object of his imployment to labour with so much Industry to the Conversion of sinners that he will never give over his undertaking until he forms in our hearts the perfect image of Jesus unless we do oppose him so far by our evil ways as to oblige him to withdraw his hand from us as from a piece of work altogether incapable of his impressions Delens quid adversum not erat chirographum decreti quo erat contrarium nobis ipsum tulit de medio affigens illud cruci Col. c. 2. v. 14. The Incarnation in its essential accomplishment is brought so far to its last Perfection that no more can be added to it for the Essences are like numbers which suffer no further Addition without an alteration of their Species Jesus has pay'd our Ransom in rigour of Justice The Title fix'd on the Cross in all Languages makes it out says St. Paul He found us a Soveraign Remedy to Cure us of all our Evils Justitia Dei per fidem Jesu Christi in omnes super omnes qui credunt in eum Rom. c. 3. v. 22. there is nothing wanting on his side to the general good of our Redemption but in as much as the general merit of the Incarnation before it brings to any one the particular efficacy of its influences does include an actual application on our side as an absolute condition of Contract the which not being perform'd does make all void we may say that its accidental Accomplishment is perform'd by the actual application of this general remedy without which the Passion of the Son of God though of Infinite Merit in it self shall be to me altogether unprofitable so that I shall remain in Darkness and sit in the shadow of Death if I do not by a special concurrance of my liberty work efficatiously the accomplishment of my own Salvation St. Paul comprehends all what I have said in few words A dimpleo ea quae desunt passionibus Christi Colos c. 1. v. 24 I do fulfill says he what things are wanting to the Passion of Christ I know that the Heretick Besa on a Commentary falsly Father'd upon St. Ambrose instead of these words I fulfill the things that are wanting sets down I fulfill the rest but his explication is groundless and without any reason being that the rest means something of an abundance and a surplus of a full sum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It does also import a great deal of ignorance of the very Rudiments of Grammar for the Greek word in its natural signification is only taken for a defect or want of some accidental Perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is further explain'd by the word Accomplish which in the Greek is taken as well for to Accomplish as for to Supply what is wanting of any thing The Angelical Doctor St. D. Tohm hic in comment Thomas takes this Accomplishment of what is wanting for a part of the Eternal Decree not as yet fulfilled which are the Merits and Co-operation of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ The Head who is Jesus and whose Merits are Infinite has acquir'd his last Perfection but his Members who are his Faithful Sons and who by proportion must have their particular merits receive not their Accomplishment but by measure and according as they do suffer with Christ Usque adeo praesentibus non terreor persecutionibus ut mihi parum esse videatur quod patior quoadusque in me passio impleatur D. Hier. in c. 1 ad Colos. It is therefore St. Paul says That he does supply the part which is wanting of that Eternal Decree by afflicting his own Body and that without any intermission as St. Jerome remarks until that the Passion of Christ be fully compleated and accomplish'd in him Arboreus taking the matter in another Sense says that the Apostles and the Evangelical persons who by the obligation of their Charge are called to the Conversion of Souls Idcirco hunc bonorum omnium autorem pro ratione nostri officij praedicamus suscipimus extollimus monentes unum quemque ut studeat pro viribus in Christo perfectus evadere Arborâ—s in c. 1. Col. have for Imployment to go over all the World with the Son of Gods Decrees and Orders and to supply in mens hearts the Sacrament of their particular Conversion in the Absence of Jesus who is no more on earth by his Corporal and Visible Presence Would you not say to hear this Doctor speak that he takes Jesus for a great Physician and that he looks upon the Apostles and Preachers as so many Apothecaries Jesus before he died did fix his Receipts for our Salvation upon the Cross The Apostles peruse them compose the Medicines and give it to the Sick to be taken Venancius Fortunatus to parallel the two Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul calls them the Gates of Heaven and the two Lanthorns of the Universe who by Orders from Heaven bring Light over all the World and labour to accomplish what is wanting to the Passion of the Son of God The one pours out of his Mouth Inflaming Words to bring the good to a high Perfection the other lets fly from his Pulpit Thunders to frighten Sinners St. Peter holds the first Place by virtue of his Charge and Supremacy but St. Paul surpasses him by his Profound Doctrine and Preaching as many as the one acquires by force of his Arguments and rare Eloquence Corda per hunc hominum referantur astra per illum Quos docet ille stylo suscipit iste polo. Fort. l. 3. Carminâ—m as chief Orator of the Church the other receives them into Glory as appointed Porter of Heaven by Jesus Christ and both strive with a Holy Emulation who shall best fill the Vacant Seats of the Revolted Angels with Souls Converted by them to a True Repentance These things supposed I may lawfully say without any offence
to the Maxims of Theology that this Delivery is the Accomplishment of the Word-Incarnate being that without the actual application of the Infinite Merits of our Saviour which is the main scope of all his Sufferings the Incarnation had been altogether unprofitable to each one in particular though most sufficient of it self to work the general Redemption of mankind So the Beams of the Sun though they be of their own nature capable to Heat and Enlighten yet they cannot work those effects on Bodies that will not admit of their Influences CHAP. VII That it is the Angel of Great Council who brings to the Soul the Word of her Conversion D. Thom. 22. q. 174. IT is certain that our Blessed Virgin was throughly instructed in the Mystery of the Incarnation in general however she knew not that her self in particular was appointed to be the Mother of the Emanuel Spiritualem conceptionem Christi quae est per fidem praecedit annunciario quae est per fidei praedicationem secundum quod fides est ex audita D. Tho. 3. p. q. 30. art 1. ad cum whose wonders she might have read of in Scripture It is the same case with man though he receives no Embassador to reveal unto him the Spiritual Conception of Jesus in his Heart he has notwithstanding the Faith which obliges him to believe that Grace is sufficient to operate that wonder though he be not assured by an Infallible certainty of its real possession However it was becoming and convenient that an Angel-Embassador should be dispatch'd towards the Virgin Citatus hic á D. Tho. art 2. in corpore Acceptum humanae restarationis principium ut Angelus á Deo mitteretur ad virginem partu consecrandam divino quia prima perditionis humanae fuit causa cum serpens a diabolo mittebatur ad mulâ—erem Spiretu superbiae decipiendam as well to reveal unto her the Decree of her Maternity as also to get her consent to the end it should be put in Execution It is by that way that the reparation of Mankind should begin says Venerable Bede That an Angel should be sent to the Virgin who was to be Consecrated by a delivery altogether Divine because that another Angel under the shape of a Serpent had deceiv'd the first Woman with the Spirit of Pride using all ways and Inventions possible to make her the accomplice of his Perfidiousness so the Arch-Angel made use of all the most pregnant Reasons he could afford to draw from the Virgin that Ecce the most Happy Source of our Salvation He does insinuate himself into her Favours by an extraordinary Salutation and never as yet practic'd says Origen for pronouncing the sweet Name of Mary he Honours her with three rare and wonderful Qualities Fulness of Grace Divine Communication Singular Benediction immediately he makes the Narrative of his Embassy discovers the Intention of the Prince who sent him the great advantages of the Dignity to which she is call'd the Grandeur and Excellency of the Fruit of her Womb and in fine for conclusion in few words after the fashion they treat with Great Folks he exhorts her to give her consent to all this Sacred Progress by the example of St. Elizabeth who by Divine Power was made Fruitful in her Sterility That being done the Virgin Consents the word is given the Mystery is accomplish'd and God is become flesh Contracting with Humane Nature The matter is otherwise carried on in our Conversions Notas facite in populis adventiones ejus Isaie 12. v. 4. an Angel must not suffice to bear the imployment there must be a narrow search made in the secret Cabinet of the Infinite Wisdom to find extraordinary Inventions to bring a sinner to give his Consent to his own Salvation Concilia cogitationes vias molimina ejus in redemptione generis humani Cornel hic The Prophet Isaih will have the Sacred Mystery of those Divine Inventions Preach'd over all the World all which inventions may be reduc'd to three things which if you will but Faithfully observe you will never do amiss The wise sets them down thus Eternal Verity Opportune Councel and the Crowing of the Cock Eternal Verity as being without any Errour Opportune Coouncel as conducing to a good end The Crowing of the Cock because it awakes us from Sleep which is the Image of Death And yet notwithstanding all those Inventions are for the most part Fruitless and without taking any effect in man though often represented and Preached efficaciously to him Here I find what is very strange that one Fiat draws all the World out of nothing One I will have it so conserves it in its Existence one Ecce brings down the only and dearly beloved Son of God from his Fathers Breast to his Servants Womb Three words of four Letters Fiat Volo Ecce works such high Mysteries without any opposition or difficulty and the whole Volume of Holy Scriptures infallibly Dictates of the Holy Ghost together with the secret Inspirations of his Love are not able to compass the Conversion of one obstinate Soul The Power of the Father Creates the Wisdom of the Son Conserves the Goodness of the Holy Ghost animates all things But as to the Justification of an Obdurate Sinner though the three Divine Persons contribute with all their Activity to it yet the Power of the Father is there without fear the Wisdom of the Son without Belief and the Goodness of the Holy Ghost without Love Liber literis exaratur palam contestans gloriam dei The Fathers Inventions in the Creation of the World to have himself obeyed are wonderful being that as St. Basil says All Creatures are as a great Volume written in very large Characters wherein all those Divine Wills and Pleasures are highly publish'd Adam after his dismal Fall is condemned to the labouring of the Earth a Mystical punishment to the end that he who would not obey his Creator by the motives of Justice should learn of this Terrestrial Element which being laboured brings forth Fruit in due Season how far less Rebellious is the Earth to the Stock and Plough than is an Obdurate Heart to receive the Inspirations of Heaven What can be more attractive than the amourous Inventions of the Son of God as well in the Examples of his Life whilst he convers'd amongst us as in the proofs which he left us of his Love when he withdrew his visible presence from us His Sacred Body expos'd on our Altars is that Preacher and Master mention'd by St. Lawrence Justinian Christus praeceptor est apertas codex in quo legendo meditando universa virtutum disciplina ediscitur Justinian l. 2. de humilit c. 12. who holds a Book in his Hand heretofore open'd on the Cross but now cover'd in the blessed Sacrament with the appearance of Bread and Wine Book of Life Copy of Truth Mirrour of Perfection It is there the Proud may learn and
Passion if there be no greater Friendship than to expose his Life for his Friends You ought to love me above all Creatures for I suffer'd Death upon your account You are my Dove by the Communication of my Spirit if the simplicity of that little Creature which has been to me a Symbol in my Baptism and a Faithful Messenger to the good man Noah in the Deluge giving you to understand that I had no Gaul in my heart against you though you deserv'd I should have reserv'd some to Chastise you for all your Abominations and Crimes you may learn further by her Example to live so in this World that you never wet the foot of your Affections nor loiter as the Crow did to feed on dead Carcasses but to be always in a readiness to return to me when I shall open unto you the window of my heart a Mystical Ark pierc'd with a Lance for your Love You are my Immaculate by the use of the Holy Sacraments that my Flesh and Blood which is to you Food and refreshment in the Eucharist be not a bit to poison you as another Judas by the indisposition of your ill prepar'd and ill affected Conscience but rather a Sweet Nector to increase and fortify the Life of your Soul and perfume all her Faculties with the delicate scent of Piety that I may take pleasure to reside constantly in your heart Dixit insipiens in corde suo non est Deus Psal 13. v. 1. This second invention of Love prevails but very little or rather nothing at all with Christians and why so Nam ita superè peccat inverecundè ne si non esset Dâ—us Lyran. in Psal 13. Their excuse will be Ignorance they did not know who it was that spoke The fool said in his heart it is not God that knocks It is therefore that the Soul sends her Lacquey to the door to tell that Madam is not within that he that knocks may come another time or if he has any Packet to leave it and it shall be given to Madam when she comes from her walk That Lady is the Soul the Lacquey is the Body Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum spiritus autem adversus carnem Gal. 5. v. 17. for when God calls us to infuse some good Notions into our Souls the Body is always contrary as St. Paul says to the Spirit is hard by to make opposition Let us consider I pray the malice of that excuse What is the reason that a Body gives orders to tell that he is not within when he is call'd for It is either because he is not drest and in a condition to appear or that the person that looks for him is not grateful to him or that he is Indebted to him and having not wherewithall to pay him he commands his Servants to tell that he is not within O great God be not offended with the Impudence of that bold Harlot who gives Orders to tell that she is not within when you call for her For in good earnest she is not within she is far from you her Sins have carried her away to some Foreign Region as far off as another Prodigal Child and though she had been within she wants the Robe of Charity she is in no condition to appear Her Face is made black with the Cole of her Crimes your sight would make her horrible moreover your company is nothing acceptable to her Quae enim participatio justitiae cum iniquitate c. 2 Cor. 6. v. 14. for betwixt Light and Darkness there is no Communication Belial and Jesus never lodge under the same Roof but what troubles her mind most is that she is your Debtor and accountable to you for so great a number of Graces that she has not wherewithal to make you the least satisfaction an excuse without ground apology without any reason Ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis Psal 104. v. 4. Let it be so as you will have it that she is far from her God Is it not God that gathers together the scattered Sheep and leaves Ninety Nine in Heaven to look for one that is lost on Earth If she be naked and without the Ornaments of Charity is it not Jesus that cloaths them without any other cost charge or trouble only to be willing to receive them But she has not wherewithal to make satisfaction let her not trouble her mind with any and if she had she cannot of her self merit the least degree of Grace in the rigour of Justice whilst she is under the Law of sin It is enough that the precious Blood of Jesus is of an Infinite value to make all those excuses frivolous and never to be admitted of The third invention of Love that Jesus imploys in our search is to set before our eys the labours he undergoes upon this account as a loving Father to his Children though debauch'd out of all measure after the respect and authority of a Father could not prevail with them no more than his sweet alluring words and his threatnings he comes at last with a sad countenance the tears in his eyes and fetches a languishing sigh from the bottom of his Heart Ungrateful will you always continue the subject of my Afflictions At the age that I am in I should by course take my rest Yet it is Then that I see my self engaged in a thousand troubles and all this upon your account I deprive my self of all contentments for to advance your Fortune I expose my life to many hazards for to preserve yours if you have not the good nature to requite my affections at least have compassion of my Labour and Toyl God does the same Aperi mihi quia caput meum plenum est rore c. Cant. 5. v. 2. as you may see in many places of Scripture My hair says he is all wet with the dew and therefore opens the door to let me in A Man who has travelled all night upon some earnest occasion will come to the door of a Lodging two hours before day in the morning he appears there all in a Fog and dung-wet the first that meets with him is moved with compassion Oh! Poor Traveller I see you are sadly wet and how says he could I avoid it Here I have stood these two long hours under all this Rain knocking at the door and as yet I see no body come to let me in Servire me fecisti in peccatis tuis c. Isa 43. v. 24. It 's so with the Saviour of the Word I ran says he all night in Post hast to meet with a Soul at her up-rising I went through thick and thin Frost and Snow in a Cold Windy Rainy Season I arrived early before the break of day at her door I knock'd I call'd and recall'd I knock'd again and again but no body appeared and here I am wet and weary and have nothing for all my Labour But here I discover another Mystery
a greedy Crow carried on by his Venereal Flames to all rotten Carcasses and slaves to Venus By night he is no better than a Ravenous Wolf that lives by the spoil of the very poor every where he goes he has the repute of a Devil his Body is the Hell of his Soul you hear nothing come from his Mouth but dark and Sacrilegious words These are the smoaky stinking vapours which the very Satanick Impiety that consumes his Heart breaths out at every moment The thoughts of Heaven and of his Salvation are as rare with him as if he had been already confirm'd in his everlasting misfortune There is a man of the World for you harnis'd like a Mule in a Waggon full of Maledictions Virtuous Ladies are as rare as Children well Bred. The Philosopher who in the open Streets of Athens with a Lanthorn in his hand at noon-day look'd for a Virtuous man Elevatae sunt filiae Sion ambulaverunt extento collo Isa 3. v. 6. might very well take one in each hand to find out a Wise and Virtuous Lady For Vanity seems to be so incident to that Sex that on all occasions they would have themselves ador'd as so many Divinities but that the ugliness of their Feet even as the Peacock forces them to acknowledge the frailty and weakness of their Nature If the foolish fancies of Love have once got into their Breasts there is no talking to them of living any longer under their Mothers wings Their Stubborness their Impudence their Boldness turns clear from their Hearts and Faces all Respect all Modesty all Shame The World has got such an Influence over their Affections as being their King that after he had treated them as the Scullions of his Kitchen he leaves them as a Reward for all their Service an everlasting repentance for having ever lov'd him so much Ut pulvis à turbine sic opes ab aliis ad alios subinde ventilantur atque jactantur umbrae qui instar manibus teneri nequaquem possunt nec desperatae carentibus nec satis certae possidentibus Greg. Naz. in orat ad Julianum tributorum exequatorem In fine perhaps the great Wealth Estates Possessions and Riches that the World gives to some will be a sufficient motive to retain them in his Service Alas how can they be ignorant that these are so many Nets to intangle them further in their slavery and render them incapable ever to enjoy the liberty of true born Children of God which might wean them from all the Terrestrial Affections and transport their love towards Heaven the originary land of their Nativity they are Tokens sold and bought very dear and for which he expects extraordinary service with a thousand sorts of compulsions and violence However all this might be born with if we were but sure of its constant enjoyment and long possession But we see in the twinkling of an eye a Rich man made the most miserable of Mortals now a Craessus presently a Craetes It is then very true by the deduction of those three heads that he who forsakes the service of God to live under the Government of a Tyrannical Prince forsakes his Father to meet with his Enemy turns tail to his Happiness to face his Misfortunes declines from his true and well-affected Judge to cast himself into the hands of his Tormenter Vadam post amatores meos qui dant panes mihi aquas meas Ozee 2. v. 5. An non est hoc durae frontis meretriciae impudentiae ut in suo scelere glorietur dicat sequar amatores meos c. D. Hier. hic That our God makes use of that knowledge to Convert a Sinner Scripture makes it out where you may find in Hosea the Prophet a man who resolves to forsake the Service of God to follow his Passions and rank himself under the Tyrannical Laws of this corrupt World I will go says he after my Lovers that give me both Linnen and Woollen and Oyle to Drink as if he would say the ways of God are very Austere in his House they speak of no other thing but of carrying of Crosses renouncing ones Self banishing proper Love practising Mortification and wearing of Hair-Cloath I grudge those ways I will hereafter give Obedience to the World whose Maxims are far more sweet the company more grateful and the Commandments more conformable to Nature What says St. Hierome To glory in their Iniquity and declare openly that they will forsake God to follow the World and to run after its unlawful Allurements is it not to bear the front and face of a bold Impudent Strumpet Spinis electorum viae sepiuntur dum dolorum punctiones inveniunt in hoc quod temperaliter concupiscunt quasi interposita materia vis eorum obviat quorum nimirum defideria perfectionis difficultas impugnat D. Greg. 34. moral cap. 2. No no says our Saviour I stop you there you shall not find what you look for in the World I will set Bushes Thorns and great Stones in the way where you think to pass through that at last you shall be constrain'd to come back You think to live at your Ease in the World I will contrive it so that all Creatures shall rise up against you to controul your Designs You think to meet with Friends but I will order it that your nearest Relations shall be the first that will trouble your Settlement you think to enjoy your Liberty with more ease and less contradiction Vadam revertar ad virum meum priorem nam dum diversitatibus mundi quem diligit anima morderi coepit tunc plenius intelligit quanto illi cum priore viro melius fuit eos ergos quos voluntas prava pervertit plerumque adversitas corrigit Idem Greg. supra by withdrawing your self from my conduct I will render you a far greater Slave than any of the Criminals at the Chain in their Gallies Those sound Corrections and Divine Reproaches had so much power over that wavering Spirit that at last he is forc'd to acknowledge his fault and openly declare that he would return to his former Master because says he it is better to be with him than here where I find but the bare shadow of good luck and contentment Whereas in Gods Service I shall have all assurance of Glory and everlasting Felicity CHAP. XIII That we cannot complain of the want of sufficient means for our Conversion WE must suppose for a ground of this our Discourse that all Gods Graces tending to our Conversion may be reduc'd to two equal Divisions That is to the Graces that begin and dispose us to our Coversion and all those Graces are comprehended under the term and notion of less sufficient to Salvation or to the Graces which do effectually concur to our Conversion and those we call actual and efficacious Graces This is the Doctrine of all true Divines against Calvin Bellarm. tom 3. controvers l. 1.
Juvenal Lucian Celsus and the rest are altogether astonish'd at their Silence not understanding that it is the true Religion which begins to make it self known to the World Fifthly It s general publication over all the World without any earthly assistance favour or support without Pleasure Profit or any Temporal satisfaction in Patience Humility and Affliction In fine the Infallible Assistance of Jesus to them of that Profession as well by the use of Holy Sacraments wherein he confers his Graces on us as by the care he has to give us his Angels to guard and protect us his Holy Ghost to comfort us and his Promise assuring us of Eternal Life Let the Heretick then as well as the bad Christian confess that it is not God but the bad use they make of their own free will and liberty that is the cause of their everlasting Misfortune and woe But alas what shall we say of those poor little Creatures which in their Mothers womb or soon after they breath'd the common air of Nature are depriv'd of Life before they become Peaceable possessors of the same passes from one Prison to another and not having along with them the safe conduct of Baptism are prohibited to come within the gates of Heaven Must so antient a Sin and so far from us as that of Adam is be the cause of our daily misfortunes Original sin what a subtile poison your Infection is being that it is impossible for any Creature except Jesus and Mary He by Nature she by a special Priviledge to avoid its fatal stain Were it not far better to deprive those poor Babes of Life for good and all by leaving them block'd up within that Chaos of nothing than to bring them to a state where they shall have cause to lament for ever their misfortune without any to comfort them or condole their bad luck St. Augustin Your Expressions are able to break any Heart to pieces when you say that very many Children receive not the Grace of God because they die without Baptism though they have no will contrary to the will and Holy Laws of God and though the Parents and Priests make as much hast as they can to Administer the Holy Sacrament unto them thing worthy of compassion they run in all haste to look for a Remedy to the Evil and the Patient expires before its application God permitting it so to fall out I confess ingeniously I would wish a more Happy condition to those poor little Creatures if Faith had suffer'd me to follow my feelings But it obliges me under pain of Damnation to submit my thoughts to Divine Revelation which gives me to understand that it was the Eternal Fathers Decree to send his only Son on Earth for the Reconciliation of Mankind then the Decree must of necessity be equally put in execution Prosper lib. 2. de vocat gent. c. 23. Non irreligiose arbitror dici quod isti paucorum dierum homines ad illam pertineant gratiae partem quae semper omnibus est impensa nationibus totaque illa principia nec dum rationalis infantiae sub arbitrio jacent voluntatis alienae nec ullo modo eis nisi per alios consuli potest Vide per totum so that none comprehended within the List and Obligation past in the Terrestrial Paradice can say that he has not been made partaker of sufficient means to Salvation St. Prosper was of the same feeling I do not believe says he that we do in any way transgress against either Religion or Conscience to say that those little Children Creatures of few days appertain to that part of Grace which is communicated to all Nations and which if their Parents turn to good use doubtless will take its effect for all those small Grafts and Exordiums of Creatures not yet Reasonable lies under the good will of another The reason is that as the Children are not guilty before God but by the fault of their first Parent and never contributed on their side to any actul malice that is in them but only by a flowing of an Hereditary propagation which sticks to all them that come to the World by the way of ordinary Generation so they have not the sufficient means to stop this Original disorder but what depends on the Will of another Now we must suppose that it is morally impossible but that the Parents have an actual desire to confer on their Children this necessary means to Salvation and this is what the Divines call the sufficient means of little Infants But if it happens by hazard or otherwise that the Child dies in the Mothers womb or soon after this can be no reason to dress up a complaint against God because that those sad Mischances arriving through Natural Causes make that God who in the general disposition of the Universe acts as first Principle suffers also all things to go according to the course of their Nature without conceiving any formal design notwithstanding against that Child or this in particular that he should be depriv'd of Sufficient means to Salvation Would you have that God to hinder an Eclipse of the Sun should disturb and destroy all the order of Nature Sicut per unius delictum in omnes homines The Apostle says that the Sin of one man had so infected all Humane Nature that from the Child in the Mothers Womb to him who after a long scope of years waits for his Coffin and Grave there is none but has been condemn'd to die when first he began to live Even so by the Justice of another man not by Terrestrial but even Caelestial Grace as a brave Sun of an Infinite Greatness powers down her Rays on all men with so much proportion that the Child as well as the Old Man must ingeniously confess that nothing is wanting to them of Gods side who will never violate the Laws of his General Providence to hinder the operation and effects of particular Causes Let none then hereafter if it happens that unfortunately he falls into the common road of Perdition accuse the Eternal Providence of either Injustice or Partiality being he never refuses any Body sufficient means to work the Conversion and Salvation of his Soul CHAP. XV. God no sooner sees a Soul desirous of her Salvation but he gives her his helping Hand OUr God in the Prophet Malachie speaks a most sweet word to the People of Israel that deserves well some return more than a Complement I have lov'd you says he to them Malach. c. 1. v. 2 Dilexi vos dicit dâ—minus dixâ—stis in quo dilexisti nos and what ought they to reply how or in what terms should they acknowledge their great Obligations to him Should they not say it is true my Lord we have had several proofs of your good will Heaven and Earth on occasion might appear as Irreproachable Witnesses of the Favours we receiv'd at your most Liberal Hands Oblite sunt benefactorum ejus
dependency over all Creatures which makes them always be in a readiness to obey his Orders beyond their Natural Principles and the Precincts of their Activity In that Case 't is enough that he raises up their power proportionably to the miraculous effect that he aims to produce For such miraculous effects tend not to the profit or contentment of the things elevated being altogether incapable of any such but only aims to make known the power of the Supream Agent who makes use of them So that for to Act they need no other created Principle But as for Man it is not the same with him Postquam convertisti me egi poenitentiam Jerem. cap. 31. v. 16. for God setting him on in the work of his Conversion will have him to concur really and as an effective Principle even as he did in his aversion from him when that he committed Sin which cannot be performed by him unless it be before-hand God bestows on him a Divine quality which leaves him in a free power to work the accomplishment of his Salvation which he is not able to perform by the bare and sole Principles of Nature Moreover had not Man received any other extraordinary quality Liberum arbitrium est causa sui motus quia homo per liberum arbitrium movet se ad agendum D. Tho. 1. p q. 83. art 1. ad 3. to raise up his will to supernatural Actions as all those are that tend directly to Salvation It might be said that he is a principle meerly passive in the practice of Virtues which is contrary to the common Belief Also God never supplies by himself the defect of any second Causes when it can be done by any other way The Example of the Blessed in Heaven will make this Divinity easie to be understood It is not enough for a Soul that has for her happy residence everlasting Glory that God discovers unto her the Mirrour of his Divine Essence and makes his Glorious Beams to shine all about her her Understanding must also march under the conduct of a Light of Glory to enjoy its Felicity that must be the resplendent Garment without which it durst not appear It must then follow that the Soul receives some Grace from Heaven Venit adoravit eum dicens Domine Adjuva me Matt. 5. v. 15. which God drops down from the Cabinet of his most tender Love and not to make her bear in her understanding the knowledge of all the Divine Beauties for that is the Duty and Office of the exciting Grace But to help her Will and in so doing to make her the necessary principle of her Conversion as all the Fathers of the Sacred Councel of Trent do teach The Holy Church owns the necessity of that Grace Trident. sess 6. Cent. and that all our endeavours for Salvation are too weak to draw us from the corruption of this World without the assistance from Heaven this is it that moved her to dress up that form of Prayer Actiones nostras quaesumus Domine aspirando praeveni adiuvando prosequere c. by which she desires the Divine bounty to prevent in such sort the beginning of our Actions by the sweetness of his aspirations that nevertheless he forsakes us not in the progress to the end that all we do or think may tend to his Glory as the Rays to their Sun the Lines to their Center The Apostle St. Paul who was not content to have cast the Seed of Faith into the Hearts of those that he had newly engendred unto Jesus if he had not prescribed them the means to preserve it comforts them with this good news that the Holy Ghost doth ease and help our Infirmities Rom. 8. v. 26. Similiter autem spiritus adiuvat infirmitatem nostram As if he had said I do not doubt in the least my dear Children in our Lord but that the Devil who is so well vers'd to deceive men will invent many ways to make you decline from the Rode which leads to Salvation and which you have learn'd but of late for there is nothing he aims more at then to snatch your Souls out of the Arms of Jesus the World always contrary in its Maxims to the Holy Laws of Heaven will breed in your Hearts if it can a horrour and a distast of that Crucifying and Crucified life which is observ'd and practiced in the Evangelical Law Nevertheless do not say or imagine that your Enemies are strong your Resolutions weak the Victory doubtful Let not all those apprehensions pull down your courage for I do â—assure you in my Masters Name that he will assist you by fortifying your weakness that he will solace your Infirmities by strentghening your Arms in your most bloody Skirmishes That he will cast dust in your Enemies eyes to give them the Rout and You the Victory that he will make you carry Lawrels on your Foreheads as so many brave Conquerours whilst They shall bear on their Faces nothing but shame and confusion The Prophet and King a Man truly according to the Heart of God not for having Governed his People with a deal of Authority not for having subdued strange Nations by the happy success of his Arms not for having gathered an abundance of wealth in the splendour of his Glory Psal 93. v. 16. Nisi Dominus adiuvisset me c. But for having so happily managed the Graces of God in the course of his Conversion Confesses ingeniously that were it not for the help and assistance he had from Heaven his Soul had very soon taken up her quarters in Hell Alas How many are there now alive Prope rueram in illam fossam quae paratur peccatoribus hoc est Paulo minus haberaverat in inferno anima mea quia jam nutabat probè consentiebat nisi Dominus adiuvisset me D. Aug. com 8. in Psal 93. v. 17. that may as well as David confess the same and say My God had you but given power to your Sarjeants in Hell to bring in such a Mans Body to their dark Dungeon at the same time as he became refractory to your Holy Laws and plunged himself in the dirty puddle of Concupiscence he had been already partaker of what punishments the Damned Souls suffer as he has been guilty of their Crimes if your charitable goodness taking compassion of his blindness had not helpt him to get out of his Dirt and Infection How many are now Tryumphing in Glory and appointed by God to bear company with his Holy Angels for an Eternty Who if they had not been prevented by that Grace would be Chain'd in Hell and as complicies to Satan would have been his unfortunate Slaves without any expectation of redemption Magdalen my dear Penitent this day you take the sweet sleep of the Spouse in the Arms of your beloved Jesus shining like a Morning Star without fear that any should evermore trouble your rest However you would have been condemned to
occasion Lyon is Infected also away with those Chandlers the base smell of their rotten Tallow has brought the Disease amongst them We are like so many Dogs we run after the stone that God doth cast at us without considering what hand it comes from without turning our Face towards him who strikes at us to know what was his meaning to strike us We Lop our Trees and why to hinder that unprofitable Branches may not take away the substance We prune our Vines that they should have less Leaves and more Fruit less Buds and more Grapes You rub your course Irons and why It is to pollish them and take away the Rust God by means of Afflictions cleans our Souls to confirm us in his Grace he clips and cuts us to pieces that we may the sooner produce the Fruits of a true Repentance he sets us under the main Hammer of the Cross in this World to take away the Rust of old Sores and polish our Souls for an Eternity Satan will have us believe the contrary Omnia quae patiuntur mala iniquè se pati dicunt dantes illi iniquitatem per cujus voluntatem patiuntur aut quia non audent ei dare iniquitatem auferunt ei gubernationem D. Aug. to 8. in Psâ— 31. and as by the supposition of a false Belief he dull'd us so far as not to be able to conceive the effects of God's Providence He will soon oblige us to believe that whatever misfortune hapens to us has its off-spring from some fatal necessity And so in liew of considering our Afflictions to be the amorous inventions of God's Love who calls us to his Service we take them for sinister causes which reduce us to bear company with the most miserable Creatures that Nature can afford This is not only found to be true in the general Afflictions which God is pleased to lay over a whole Kingdom or Province to chastise them for their misdemeanours but as yet in particular and personal Afflictions to which every one of us all is subject Let us take for example Diseases St. Basil says That they are God's Prisons If there be a wild young Man in a Countrey a High-way Robber a Murderer a Whore-master or otherwise idly given whom the fear of the Justice of the Law is not able to reduce to any right understanding the Magistrate to bring this spend-thrift to his Duty issues out his Warrant to the King's Officers to bring in his Body He is taken brought to his Tryal and condemned to Prison there he begins to implore the clemency of his Judges he who a little before undervalu'd both God and Man A Sinner who had no regard of God's Laws Jam saeviat quantum voluerit pater est sed flagilavit nos afflixit contrivit nos verum est sed pater est fili si ploras sub patre plora Paulo infra trod under foot all remorse of Conscience made nothing of the inward reprehensions of his Angel-keeper God who notwithstanding will not have this poor wretch to perish sends his Serjeant with a Warrant to seize on his body a good sound sickness casts him down on his Bed puts Irons on his hands and feet to the end that at last in that condition he be forced to beg his life of his Creator implore his Clemency and expect that by his special Grace he leads him into the Road which all good Christians take to arrive in Heaven Si non vis repelli ab haereditate noli attendere quam poenam habeas in flâ—gello sed quem locum in testamento D. Aug. to 8. in Psal 103. We must not attribute the cause of our Afflictions to some fatal constellation which had preceded at our Birth or to the bad constitution of our Bodies or to the want of good Government in our Diet for though all those causes may contribute somewhat we must acknowledge that there is a Supream and Sovereign cause which has a far higher design than that of sickness and which ends not in that exteriour Infirmity of our Bodies but goes on to cure us of a far more dangerous Disease which is the Interiour Malady of our Souls A Wife has lost her Husband whom she loved as her heart a Husband lost his Wife whom he cherisheth as his one half both are weeping lamenting sighing Alas the Wife will say did the Heavens joyn us together with so sure a knot as that of Marriage to seperate us so soon at least if I had been the first to pay my Duty to Nature I would have had the comfort as not to out-live the object of my misfortune Alas the Husband will say what shall become of my poor Children after having lost a Mother who lov'd them so tenderly What shall become of my House and Family being that I have lost my Wife my Adviser my Helper my House-keeper and prudent Oeconomer who eas'd me of all my cares Could I but release her life with the effusion of my Blood I would soon empty all my Veins to bring her to life again I freely pardon those hot expressions of Nature for being we are all made of Flesh and Blood we must have a feeling for our Friends But to speak like a Christian God demands other guess thoughts of you in those Afflictions he pardons those tears that pass in a moment But he does expect a grief that shall have no other term than Eternity The Virgins of Jerusalem seeing our Saviour to towards the Mount Calvary covered with blood and all battered with blows wept bitterly He does not approve of their Grief but tells them freely that their tears had been better imploy'd for themselves I say the same to those Souls we ought rather to weep for the loss we have often had of our true Spouse Jesus Christ when that by our infidelities we lost his presence Tears on this only occasion are grateful to God and well received by his Apostles when they do produce in us a true Grief of our past idle life and a constant resolution of amendment for the future Another is intangled in Law has lost his Suit which takes away all that he has in the World to whom shall he make his addresses to tell him of his misfortune Now he lays the blame on the Judges and says that they were mis-inform'd and more inclined to favour his Adversaries that they gave Sentence for them who had no Justice on their side Maledictus autem qui spem suam ponit in homine confunderis quia fefellit te spes fefellit spes posita in mendacio si autem ponas spem in Deo non confunderis quia ille in quo spem posuisti falli non potest D. Aug. to 8. in Psal 36. another time he finds fault with himself and accusing himself of laziness says that he either lost his most material Papers or left them at home in his Closet He complains of his Friends that they were too backward
to speak for him and that if they had imployed their credit he had got the better Meerly deceipts of the Devil Friend you have been too much a Slave to your Riches your over-much ease had brought you to perdition your great possessions had Damned you But God made you poor that you should resemble himself and that you should run with more speed and less trouble through the paths of Virtue Vide D. Aug. to 1. in Ps 31 circa finem Perhaps if God had made the Rich Glutton Poor and that in lieu of the great Revenues he had he were brought to Poor Lazarus's condition he would be at the present glorious among the Angels whereas he sees himself burned in Hell among the Devils We must then conclude that it is a most powerful Motive to convert our selves to God to make good use of Afflictions which are in appearance the rigours of a Judge but really they are the caresses of a loving Father nothing of Evil can happen to a man who receives all things as coming with Commissions from Heaven The Worlding attributes all that happens to him to the blind Lot of Fortune and he to the Divine Providence the more he sees here of disorder the more he admires God's Judgements who directs whether men will or no all those inconstancies to a certain end he knows there is no Enemy but Fights for his Victory nothing so wicked but strikes at his aim to believe firmly that all comes from the hand of God is as a Shelter from Hail a Shadow against the Sun a Relief against a Fall If the Roots of the present life be bitter the Fruit shall be sweet in Glory Let us never give credit to the Devils false Councels for all his desires and will tends to falsity God's most Holy proceedings in regard of our Salvation CHAP. XX. It is by Preaching that Sinners are efficatiously moved THe Abbot Rupert says that God foreseeing from all Eternity that a Sinner at such or such a time Rupert l. 2. in Jonan c. 3. would be converted to a true Repentance Spes reposita est vobis in Coelis quam auditis in verbo veritatis Evangelij quod pervenit ad vos c. Coloss 1. v. 5.6 never failed to send him Preachers to instruct and teach him the right and assured Road to Heaven And he seems to have affixed the Salvation of men to that condition to wit to save them by the means of his word he tells you as much in the Gospel Suscipite insitum verbum quod potest sal vare animas vestras Jacob. v. 21. where the Rich Glutton seeing that he had left Brothers in the World who might follow him into those eternal Flames and increase the accidenal pain of his Torments imagines that if any from among the dead would appear unto them to tell them of his misfortune and bring them to avoid the same by a true Repentance that without doubt at the sight of so extraordinary a thing they would seriously think of their Salvation he begs Abraham to do him this favour No no Non erubesco Evangelium virtus enim Dei est in salutem omni credenti Rom. 1. v. 16. says Abraham we must not have recourse to Signs and Prodigies where the ordinary ways may be sufficient they have Moses they have the Prophets they have their Preachers let them hear their Voice if they will they are God's Messengers sent as so many Mercuries by the Holy Ghost over all the high Roads to tell all Passengers the way they must of necessity take to come to Heaven And to the end that God's design in this point may appear in its full luster to the eyes of the Reader I divide the Sinners that are to be converted by Preaching into three Classes viz. Obstinate Sinners Sinners who procrastinate their Conversion and languishing Sinners God to convert the obstinate Sinner must become a Smith-Preacher To convert a Sinner who puts off his conversion from day to day he makes himself a Soldier-Preacher To convert the languishing Sinner he must be a Physician-Preacher The obstinate and obdurate Sinner is Painted to the life in Holy Scripture Frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi noluisâ—i erubescere Jerem. 3. v. 3. he has a Harlots Face and Forehead nothing can make him blush he has lost all shame he is no more a private Sinner he tells openly all and sometimes more than what he has done he boasts of his Iniquity his mouth is full of Maledictions for he cannot speak a word but he must out with a bloody Oath he bears Venom under his Tongue and as a malicious Serpent he waits for an occasion to annoy his Neighbours his Heart is harder than Iron colder than Marble and more Rebellious than the Dyamond What shall God do to convert him Nunquid non verba mea sunt quasi ignis dicit Dominus quasi mallâ—us conterens Petram Jerm c. 23. v. 29. He will take a great Hammer in his hand as a Smith and give so many stroaks on the obdurate Heart that he will force Fire to come out of it My words says he in Jeremiah are like Fire and as a Smiths Hammer that breaks to pieces the hardest Stones God commands this Prophet to go and Preach to the People of Israel Meus sermo paleis peccatorum comminatur incendium ut corda dura instar filiis indomabilia sermonis sui malleo conterantur auferens cor lapideum ut ponat pro eo cor carneum c. D. Hier. to 5. l. 4. in Hierem câ—p 23. but he makes his excuse and withall his Apology that he has not the Person or Quality of a Preacher that he has no good delivery and withall that he has no hopes to reap any profit by Preaching to such obstinate Souls All what you alledge is nothing says God they are not your own words you shall speak neither is it upon your own account that you shall go it is in my Name that you are to speak they are my words you are to deliver go on then pluck destroy root out cry storm strike make of my words a Hammer and crush those Rebellious heads St. Chrisostom exhorts all Preachers never to be tried in their Imployment though they may perceive their Labour to be for the most part unprofitable because that the word of God is not only a Hammer but also a Fountain which never leaves off to run though no body comes to drink of its water That Jesus gives Judas a kisst hough he knows him to be a Traytor and a Soul already lost That he who will not be converted this day may be reconciled to morrow St. Augustine was obstinate and slow enough he often heard St. Ambrose Preach sometimes he would laugh at his Sermons and he does himself ingeniously confess Quid est illud quod in terlucet mihi percutit cor meum sine laesione
Now that you would fain Dance I am no more in the humour to play on the Musick In die illa voc abit Dominus ad Fletum c. Isa 2 2. Yet if among this poor afflicted be found any comly handsom Woman that is to say a Soul which acknowledges that she has undervalued her Gods most liberal offers and comes to prostrate her self at his Feet as another Magdalen she shall be received with compassion so be that she cuts off her Hair and gets out with a Martial courage from all evil occasions which like so many Ropes kept her fast as a Slave under the heavy yoak of Sin so be that she pares her Nails by Mortifying her evil inclinations so multiplied in her Heart by her often transgressing the Law of God so be that she does firmly oblige her self to lament not for one month but all the days of her life to have so ill imployed the time which God of his Mercy was pleased to bestow on her to manage her Salvation The Infirm and Languishing Sinners In Canticum oris sui vertunt sermones tuos c. Ezeck 33. v. ult are they who really reap some little profit by hearing of Sermons who confess and receive some times who give freely Alms to the Poor and do many more good works But they are so crazy that upon the least occasion they fall into a Relapse any company brings them off from God's Service they are so faint and feeble in their practice of Devotion that the least attack overcomes them so that they need a strong and efficacious Medicine to Purge them of those weakning humours Apoc. c. 10. v. 9. Accipae librum devora illum c. And it is therefore that God does transform himself into a Prysician-Preacher as you may find in St. John's Revelations Take this Book devour it altogether as long as you keep it in your mouth it shall have the taste of Honey But when it shall come into your Stomach you shall feel a great deal of bitterness a great deal of Gripings and Convulsions Gallen and Hypocrates would laugh at such a receipt Nay they would never believe that a confection of Papers could in any respect conduce to mens health But St. Thomas understanding this Book to be the Word of God makes it appear that it is a Medicine sweet to reason Beatus homo qui corripitur à Domino c. Job 5. v. 17. but sower to sensuality sweet in the speculation but sower and troublesome in the practice A Medicine Composed of several Ingredients which cannot be pleasing to the Body they are Sugar'd Pills but within lies Wormwood and Myrh The Sugar and Honey of the Word of God is when the Preachers describe unto us the Beauties of Paradice the Glorious and Everlasting residence of the Blessed The originary Countrey of praedestinate Souls When he does explain unto us the sweetness of that intuitive Vision Intus vulnera infligit quia mentis notrae duritiam suo desiderio percutit sed percutiendo sanat quia terroris sui jaculotransfixos ad sensum nos rectitudinis revocat D. Greg. lib. 6. moral in c. 5. Job c. 18. which is to be for ever the Beautifying object of our Souls when he does assure us of the other life that it is a permanent State without any alteration or changement a place of Pleasure and Joy without any mixture of sadness a collection and gathering of all imaginable contentments whose possession can never fly from him who dies in Grace But the Myrh the Wormwood and the Diascartamum of the Word of God are Mortfications Penance Fasting Hair-cloath and other Austerities They are the main displeasures to have ever offended God they are the just punishments we must lay on our selves to chastise bur Rebellions Cum sanciata mens in Deum anhelare coeperit c. Paulo infra Ad tentationem protinus ei vertitur quicquid amicum prius blandumque in saeculo putabatur D. Greg. supra They are the solemn Protestations we make that to the hazard of our lives we will abstain from Evil and avoid all occasions of Sin Ha! The languishing Christian will say I cannot swallow that Pill it is impossible for me to take that Medicine the very smell of it makes me to grudge at it and provokes me to a Vomit Friend I have but one word to tell you if you be desirous to be cured of your Infirmities here I prescribe unto you the only Remedy for your Disease there is none other Gallen the most Learned Physician of his time was upon a day highly displeased with certain Mountebanks that he had seen prescribe nothing but what was pleasing to their Patients If they would call for Drink in the heighth of their Feaver they presently order'd that it should be given to them If they had a mind to eat Fruit they would command it to be served to them indifferently Their usual Medicines were composed of the Roots of Mandrakes the juice of Dog-Roses and of Storax more fit to set their Patients asleep and turn them to their Graves than Purge them of their bad humours and restore them to their Health Erit tempus cum sanam doctrinam non sustinebunt c. 2 Tim. 4. v. 5. Now-a-days by I do not know what corruption we look for Preachers like unto those Physicians who will flatter us and be loath to tell the truth for fear to offend us Preachers of a new stamp Filij mendaces filij nolentes audire legem Die qui dicunt videntibus loquimini nobis placentia Isa 30. v. 10. nothing but Court Language Sattin Discourses Bone-Lace Stile with fine Flowers pretty Peticoats Stage-Actions jolly in their Garb and Behaviour winning looks who take away the Nails from the Cross to set in their place some pretious Stones who will have no Thorns but Roses grow in the way which leads to Heaven In a word who place a Bolster under our heads rather inviting us to sleep in our Iniquities Melior est manifesta correptio quam amor absconditus c. Proverb 27. v. 5. than to awake us at the sound of a War-like Trumpet and of a solid Sermon Jesus Christ is none of those Preachers his prescriptions are far contrary to our humours We will have the Wine of pleasures he does ordain us to drink of the bitter waters of Penance a Tu igitur Domine Jesu uti clementissimus medicus peccatores omnes cura utens accommodatis ad salutem medicamentis non modo secando urendo novaculam adhibendo sed etiam alligando exsi siccando injiciendo medicamenta lenia cicatricem obducentia emolliendo sermonibus consolatoriis Si vulnus altum fuerit reficito sua vi unguento ut repletum reliquis partibus aequetur D. Clemen lib. 2. constit Apostol ca ◠45. We will eat of the Fruit of the forbidden Tree he will have us served with the Pears of Sorrow
and think of what Order they are to keep as well in their Retreat as in their Victory this they call to sound a Retreat And these are the two chief Offices of our Conscience to sound a Charge when the Devil that roaring Lyon who wheels round about to devour us is near at hand when the occasion of Sin is imminent when our Sensuality thinks of a Seditious revolt it 's Then that we are not to stand with cross arms but to animate our selves to a Combat shake our Bodies and stretch our Veins and shew how we have learned from Jesus Christ in his Mystical Academy to do well on the like occasions It 's a Spectacle worthy of his Divine regard to see a brave Christian Dispute couragiously for his Salvation and Coelestial Inheritance to the danger of his very life To sound a Retreat is when our Conscience does advise us to re-enter into our selves when by over-much liberty we fall out of our Ranks for to follow the Streamer of the Flesh to make us return to God when we are gone far from him by our Offences as the Prodigal-Child to his Fathers House In fine to render our selves more capable of the Amorous and Wise conduct of Jesus by the care we shall have hereafter of our own Salvation that we have been unworthy to partake of his Graces under the unhappy Rebellion of our Senses CHAP. XXIV That a Soul will not Convert her self to God unless she knows that she has no true Friend in this World Amicus fidelis protectio fortis c. Eccl. 6 v. 5. ONe of the greatest disorders that has follow'd in Humane Nature the dismal Fall of our Fore-fathers is that our faculties have remain'd so blinded in the choice of their Objects that the Spirit in lieu of carrying it self directly to the knowledge of one Truth source and first beginning of all others has busied it self about I do not know what apparent Verities which have brought the understanding to as many Errours as it has produc'd Actions soon after this choice The Will which by the Natural weight of her inclinations should not engage her self but in the Love of a real and subsisting goodness which should be the originary cause of all goodness For having imbrac'd like a blind tope as she is that which appear'd good and handsom she has found her self unfortunately under the heavy yoak and Empire of as many unprofitable affections as the deceitful senses had brought her Species a disorder oppos'd by the general Maxim which will have in all sorts of things always one to be the first who may be the rule and leader of others who may be the antecedent cause of all effects even as the Lines come from the Centeral point to dilate themselves after into the Circular amplitude of the Circumference Plurimùm didistat ratio considerantis à necessitate indigentis seu voluptate cupientis cum ista quid per se ipsum in rerum gradibus pendat necessitas autem quid propter quid expectat cogitet ista quid verum luci mentis appareat voluptas vero quid jucundum corporis sensibus blandiatur exquirat D. Aug. to 5. l. 11. Civit. c. 16. in â—â—ne We have an Election and a choice to be made whereof depends all our Happiness it is of a true Friend Hercules in that field wherein he met with Virtue and Pleasure coming to offer him their service is very much perplex'd Pleasure would have him for her Friend and by her charming words by her countenance full of allurements conjur'd him to renounce that sad and toilsom exercise of straining and labouring so much his young Bones under the rigorous Law of War that her company was far more pleasant that the Fields of Mars and Bellona were cover'd over with Blood and with Dust whereas hers were spread over with Flowers and Roses Virtue with a Grave presence full of Majesty which carried Modesty in her Face exhorts him not to suffer himself to be seduc'd by that Dissembler that her Friendship was most inconstant that she had often deceiv'd others that it is her custom to come at great and couragious Hearts after that Nature had put the Spindle and Distaff into their Hands in lieu of a Bow and a Club she triumphs to render them Idolaters of her Beauty to Glory in their own Spoils As for my part I do confess those that follow me are oblig'd to all sorts of Heroick Actions they must give the proofs of their Courage by the difficulty of high Enterprises But they may assure themselves that I will serve them both in Time and in Eternity as well for to render their Renown Glorious among Men as their Memory Venerable to Posterity The World would fain Convert Man to it self God will have him also the one and the other with the most puissant motives they can think of presents themselves to invite him to the choice of their Friendship To which shall the Soul give the preference It is necessary says Plato Plato in lib. qui lysis seu de amicit this Genius of Nature that in the matter of choosing a good Friend we begin to proceed to the Election by way of Discussion and Investigation that is to say we must make a gathering and an Assembly of all things which seems to us to be worthy of our Friendship and after having seriously consider'd them setting aside all considerations of particular Interest To question our Spirit and to demand where is the Originary source of all Friendship For if the multitude proceeds from Unity it must be that all Friendship is found eminently inclos'd in some excellent Subject which must be the very Primum Mobile of all Amities untill that you meet with this stop not advance still for all that is underneath it has but the appearance of Friendship subject to deceit I was willing to give you this advice O Friend Lysis that you may not be deceiv'd in the choice which you pretend to make of a perfect Friend taking the shadow for the Body the Effect for the Cause the Ray for the Sun and the Stream for the Source The Soul will go far in the way of her Salvation if she comes to understand that all the World together is not able to furnish her with a perfect Friend and then will conclude that this perfect Friend must be look'd for out of the World That there is no true Friend in the World I cannot produce either Proof or Testimony of it more sensible than that of Job in Holy Scripture for the just complaints he makes upon the account of his faithless Friends are able to cleave asunder any heart if it be not harder than a Dyamond he must have no feelings of Nature who will have no compassion of poor Job when he gives an account of all his disgraces in this point Job 19. v. 13. seqq Fratre meos longè fecit à me noti mei quasi alieni
grievances brings all the discontented to his Faction makes the most litigious to raise a mutiny and all of one accord do protest never to render any obedience to that nature so united being this union was made to the prejudice of their state But contrarywise to prosecute her all manner of ways and never to let slip any occasion to make her resent the passion of their envy and hatred And without delaying any longer time the effect of their rage Aut. Perez Lansal cert 3. c. 7. no. 59. as at the second instant of their creation they knew that one of the first among the good Angels was to be honoured with the Embassage of that divine Allyance of the word with Humane Nature the bad also deputed Lucifer the first among the Rebellious Spirits to deceive and seduce Adam in the terrestrial Paradice A charge whereof he has faithfully acquitted himself hitherto Diaboli partes sunt invertendi veritatem res Sacramentorum divinorum in idolorum mysteriis emulari expiationem delictorum de lavacro repromittit imaginem resurrectionis inducit c. Tertull. de praescript c. 40. as well by himself as by the accomplices of his Rebellion as Tertullian remarks if God on the one side in the vast extent of his Mercy has given us convenient means to Salvation the Devil on the other side by his crafts and deluding ways has falsifyed their Practice If God has instituted Sacraments the Devil has made Sacriledges to the Sovereign Worship he substitutes Idolatry to the union of the Church the Assembly of Hereticks to the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross the butchery of children St. Augustin speaking of the good and the bad Angels says that the one and the other are Mediatours but upon a far difference design Falsi autem fallacesque mediatores daemones per corporalium locorum intervalla per acreorum corporum levitatem à profectu animorum nos avocant viam non praebent ad Deum sed ne teneatur impediunt D. Aug. civit l. 9. c. 18. the former holds us by the hand as children to aid and assist us the latter pushes us on violently to make us fall into the ditch the one conducts us through the secret ways of the Cross to make us avoid the bad rencounters of the high Roads which lead to perdition the others guide us streight thither where they know we shall have all our throats cut and they are the first themselves that will contribute to the murder The good bring unto us faithfully the sacred messages of Heaven to let us understand the will of God Venit diabolus tollit Verbum c. Luc 8. v. 12. The bad come to us with the fraudulent and cheating Pacquets of Hell wherein their malicious suggestions written in gross Characters do teach us how to divert our thoughts from the clear prospect of our everlasting happiness It 's a question in Theologie what is at present the chief occupation of the Apostate Angels after their dismal fall All are of opinion that their prime imployment is to draw man to sin I fear very much says St. Paul to the Corinthians Timeo ne sicut serpens Evam seduxit astatia sua c. 2 Cor. 11. that Satan puft up with the pride of his Victories and knowing by a long experience the greatness of our weakness and the power of his own arms does 〈◊〉 easily corrupt our sences by his craft making us to fall from the Spirit of simplicity which is in Jesus Christ to follow the vain appearances of an immaginary truth St. Peter under the Symbol of a roaring Lyon who wheels round about to devour us forewarns us to stand upon our guards and to shelter our selves with the buckler of a strong Faith from the assaults of so cunning an adversary CHAP. XXXIII For to resist the Devil we must know his power FOr to conceive well this point of Doctrine we must observe when we say that the Devils have power to tempt men that this power is either Natural or Moral the Natural as inseperable from their nature is given to them by God in the very instance of their creation being that this power is no other thing than the same free will which ought to bring them to good but being perverted by sin is become obstinate in evil the Moral power is either positive or permissively positive as if God had given to the Devils a certain faculty to make use of the natural power they have to tempt men according to all the extent of their bad will a faculty which never was nor ever will be granted to them for otherwise they would destroy in a trice the most part of men Permissive when God permits the Devils for reasons best known to himself to make use sometimes of the natural power they have to tempt men whether it be for to train them up to Gods greater glory or to antidate the pains of Purgatory by the merit of their patience whence we may derive a manifest difference betwixt the inspirations of our tutelary Angels and the suggestions of our Enemies for the Eternal bounty of God is the positive cause whereon depends all the good will of Angels in our regard whereas the Devils have but a limited permission to do us evil and as yet the consequences are more fatal to themselves than profitable All the permission that God gives to the Devils over men may be reduced to two heads either to temptations which induce us to the evil of pain or to those which conduce us to the evil of fault the former has for his bounds the afflictions of body and time the latter the trouble of Soul and Conscience In the rank of temporal afflictions comes in the first place the inchanting operations of Witchcraft by a tacite or express pact with the Devils by which means we daily see thousands of disorders committed over all the World Non subjecit Deus Angelis orbem Hebrae 2. for though the Devils cannot confound the general order of nature by the reason which St. Thomas gives to wit that it appertains to him alone to change alter or corrupt a thing who is the supream Author and Cause of the same as God is of nature Yet notwithstanding he can continue Earthquakes by blocking up the Winds into its Bowels and by shutting up all the passages for a time to the end that those exhalations so represt should pierce the Earth with their impetuosity break down Houses pull up Trees by the Roots blow down Castles and high Towers they do form Meteors in the Air Lightnings and Thunder It 's so that Satan did raise a violent Wind for to pull down the House where Jobs Children were Banquetting and buried them all under its ruines He can very much annoy the Goods of the Earth when that men do bear them overmuch affection and this either by a disordering the Seasons Carmina laesa Ceres sterilem vanescit in auram Deficiunt
Flesh usurps on the right of the Spirit In vicino versatur invidia Senec. de brev vitae NEighbourhood is never without envy says the moral Philosopher and I think him nothing seated to his advantage In hoc flexu aetatis fama Coelii haesit admetas notitia Clodiae mulieris impudicae iufoelici vicinitate Cicero pro. who has made it his choice to reside close by a bad Neighbour For there he shall always find something to be debated The Body and the Spirit the Superiour and Inferiour part of the Soul are two Neighbours that lodge Door against Door always in War always in strife M. Coelio Video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae Rom. 7. v. 23. never out of trouble The one brings down his Laws his Customs and daily Practices the other alledges his own But the Body better vers'd and more learn'd in the subtilities of Pleading gives the Spirit much to do He acts the part of a malicious Usurper who will invest himself with another mans Goods and makes it his ordinary business to conceive and produce three Acts of bad Faith by one he pulls down and destroys the Meers and Bounds which set a distinction betwixt both the Inheritances by the other he burns confounds or retains with himself all the pretensions and titles of his Neighbour that he might have nothing to shew whereby to make appear the right and justice of his possession By the third he passes all the Farms in his own name receives the Rents and duties and so of a slave oftentimes he makes himself absolute Lord and Proprietor of that which he held from another by credit and Homage Aggenus l. de Limitibus agrorum and also with an obligation of Bondage As for the first which is the taking away of Meers and Bounds it 's an Act against the common Law of Nations which prescribes unto each thing its Mark that the Lord and Master thereof may be known and that no body might encroach or trespass on his Land The collation of those Meers was so Holy and venerable among the Antients that they would accompany it with as many Ceremonies as they would their most solemn Sacrifice to their Gods the stones being gather'd into a great heap on a firm ground they would Crown them with a Cap of Flowers and cast thereon some Aromatique Ointments to Embalm the place the Trench being made deep where the Bounds being to be settled they were to kill some clean spotless Beasts which they would bury therein by quarters and be-sprinkle them with Blood freshly drawn out of their veins the Sacred Fire being put to those materials so disposed and at the greatest force of the activity of these flames when the Flesh began to boil in the Blood they would cast the stones into that deep trench so carefully made hot Frontinus lib. de limitions and this they would call Meers of Inheritance Ille homo Primitus Dei lege transgressa aliam legem repugnantem suae menti habere coepit in membris inobedientiae suae malum sensit quoniam sibi retributam dignissime inobedientiam carnis suae invenit D. Aug. to 7. l. 1. de nuptiis concupisc ad Valerium cap. 6. statim intio which no body durst take away by reason of the punishment decreed against such transgressors which was to be immediatly comdemned to the Mines The Body as a bad Neighbour after he had at that dismal day of the Garden of Eden raised up in Arms all the unruly motions of his concupiscence to provoke the Soul to the disorder of the Crime which she there committed believed he had acquired advantages great enough to entrench upon her Rights knowing very well by the experience he had of her litle courage to maintain them that he would soon get the better of her if he would undertake to intangle her in a Process he begins with the first Act of a bad Faith which is to take away and pass over the Bounds which God and Nature had put betwixt him and the Soul But what are the Meers of the Body assigned by the Decree of the great Surveyor of the Universe it 's a little bit of Earth of five or six foot in length two or three in breadth for the most corpulent An inheritance which is never better measured then by the same Body when that they do cast him into his Tomb and stretch him over all what he is worth in the World and as yet the Worms will strive for the same and pretending the prosperty to be their own they gnaw the carcass so far as to take away all form and shape belonging to a Body Morever whilst the Body is alive he is subject to all manner of slavery which can be exacted of a Vassal If the Soul as his Soveraign can absolutely command him And if she could make use of the Justice of her Power and Prerogative the Body in respcct of her would have no further credit or esteem then what we usually have for a meer Slave because that the Soul being of a Celestial off-spring she can have no bounds upon Earth her limits touch the very point of Eternity whence she derives the Antiquity of her Race and the Grandeurs of her Nobility What has happened upon that account what but that great misfortune which St. Paul will have the Corinthians to avoid Non sit schisma in corpore 1. Cor. c 11. to wit to hinder that the Body should become Schysmatique that is to say to hinder that no division should be betwixt the Members and the Head the Vassal and the Lord the Servant and the Master The Soul is the Head the Lady and the Mistress of the Body Yet by reason that the Soul cannot exercise the Acts of her power unless that she does pass over the Earth of the Body and that the Spirit cannot receive any intelligible Species unless she draws them from abroad by the favour of the sences which are the Organs of the Body Hence the Body in the continuation of the Soul passes and repasses seeintg she had need of his assistance took the occasion of a revolt and in a short time being weary of serving and getting without the Meers of his duty he reduced her to that pass to serve and wait on his unruly appetite Servitutes praediorum confundantur si idem utriusque praedii dominus esse coeperit Digest l. 8. tit 6. and to labour the Earth though she be a Princess of Heavenly Extraction And this because she knew not how to hold her own rank maintain her Rights and make the Body know how far she could extend her bounds CHAP. XXXVI The Second unjust Usurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit THe Lord and Proprietor being no more able to obtain what is his by right through the unjustice which was done unto him by destroying and taking away his Bounds the bad
to be sold he gives no further respite for the buying of them but as long as a farthing Candle shall give light on the bottom of a Tub or Hogs-head who ever gives most shall have all from him St. Paul to the Romans complains of that disgrace I am altogether carnally given Ego Carnalis sum venundatus sub peccato infoelix ego homo quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus Rom. c. 7. v. 14 and brought under the heavy yoak of sin Alas what a wretch am I who shall deliver me from the Tyranny of this Body That Candle lighted is our Life whose light is so short that it often does Ecclipse from our Eyes before we can enjoy a glance of its brightness and yet notwithstanding Eternity depends on this moment T' is in this moment that we must either be Saved or Damned That we must do good the seed of Glory Or sow incorruption the seed of everlasting misfortune The Body will have this moment to himself alone and tho he knows this moment to be of a short continuance and that this life passes away as the Wind he will not give over to build designs in his brains which seem to strive with Eternity Solomon the most wise among men gives an ample description of that folly where a man in so short a time will undertake so many things the discourse he makes of it is altogether as pleasant as it is necessary to oblige all Spirits to make good use of this moment I was says he King in Jerusalem Great Powerful Rich at my ease and seeing that the pleasures did much weaken the vivacity of my Spirit Eccl. c. 4. v. 4. and that in the continuation of their bad use I was declining from the conduct of wisdom I abstained from the delicacy of Wines by a rule of sobriety which bridled my appetites I set my hand to work building of Palaces planting of Vines dressing of Gardens ordering of Vineyards and Orchards I reformed the state of my House and made it my Study to render it the most renowned of all the World I did seek to procure for my sences all the objects they could desire And as the power to possess them was as easie to me as the desire to have them I did satisfie them at full in the moment of their appetites But all the goods and pleasures of the World well considered are but Vanity and affliction of Spirit I would afterwards fain know what difference was there betwixt the folly of the World and the wisdom of Heaven betwixt a prudent man and a fool I have seen that the Wise had his eyes in his head and that the fools walked in darkness The one and the other were equal in this point that death without any respect or consideration does cast them both into the Grave If it be so says I to my self that Death pardons no more the Wise then the Fool that the Learned and Ignorant come to the same end to what purpose is so much time spent in such unprofitable labours 't is but vanity and affliction of Spirit The passionate desire I had to see him prosper who was to succeed me in my Dominions has engaged me in a thousand cares which gnawed my heart But reflecting seriously on their anxiety I detested their pursuit not knowing whether he who is to be my Heir will be of the number of the Fools or of that of the Wise or if he will not be prodigal of the Goods whose acquisition cost me so dear This is that which made me resolve to give my self a little ease and without troubling any further the quietness of my life to pass over sweetly the rest of my days in peace Continuing by induction to make appear the sad occupation of Men who have no God but their Body and who in a moment undertake so many affairs to the prejudice of their Souls they do shew evidently the advantages of the Flesh over the Spirit And as the Spirit if he does not get himself off speedily and with courage from under the Tyrany of his Hostilities will be utterly subdued without expectation of any agreement CHAP. XXXVIII That it is the Grace of Jesus which maintains the Spirit in his Rights 'T Is but in vain for the Flesh to plot or devise unjust Usurpations on the Rights of the Spirit Nihil damnationis est iis c. Rom. c. 8. v. 1. She may Rebel against his Empire but to no purpose Corruptio corporis quae aggravat animam non peccati primi est causa sed poena nec caro corruptibilis animam peccatricem sed anima peccatrix carnem fecit esse corruptibilem D. Aug. tom 5. l. 14. civit c. 3. per totum for the Spirit will always find whereby to dissolve all her slights her revolts and subtile inventions The Word-Incarnate will furnish us with sufficient means to annul all her pursuits Whereupon the Apostle fears not to say That there is no damnation for them that are in Jesus Christ so be that undervaluing the Sedition of the Tempter they do avoid as much as they can the deceits of his practice because that the Law of the Spirit taken from the life of Jesus Res violenter pâ—ssassa non poteâ—â—su capi vel praescribi nisi vitium violentiae sit proâ—â—tum p. 14. tit 3. §. 14. delivers us from the bondage of Sin and Death Not that the Apostle absolutely speaking would give the Christian Letters of assurance of the Infallibility of his Salvation for that would be contrary to Holy Scriptures His design is to shew the power of the Word-Incarnate in the use of Baptism where we do receive so authentical a Pardon for our Crimes that our Souls being perfectly Purged of all original spots Concupiscentia vocatur peccatum quia peccato facta est cum jâ—â—r in regeneratis non sit ipsa peccatum sicut vocatur lingua locutio quam facit lingua frigus pigrum non qâ— pigris fiâ—t sed quod pigro faciat D. Aug. tom 7. de nupt concup c. 23. there remains nothing that deserves the name of Sin If Concupiscence remains after Baptism it holds not the rank of a Crime in our Hearts but is left only for the exercise of Virtue as the originary Seed of all the Combats betwixt the Spirit and the Flesh where every good Christian ought to make his courage appear and remain always Victorious whether he flies from his Enemy when he discovers his Treachery or that he withstands Manfully against the violence of his assaults Non regnet peccatum in vestro mentali corpore Rom. 6. If the Saints sometimes make use of the word Sin speaking of Concupiscence even as St. Paul to the Romans exhorting us that we should not permit Sin to reign in our Mortal Bodies it 's to take the word Sin in a very general extent and not in the precise Intelligence of its malice Concupiscence then to speak
properly is no other thing in St. Augustine's opinion than a languishing tepidity to produce the actions of the Spirit That puts all the Members of the Flesh into a Lethargy when there is question to obey the commandments of the Soul this idleness becomes a Tyrant if permitted to command absolutely and our proper feelings will become Arms of iniquity Languor iste tyranus est si vis te tiâ—anni esse victorem Christum invoca imperatorem D. Aug. verb. Apost serm 12. if we have not recourse to the Store-house of the Cross and take thence the Shield of Mortification on which Jesus our true Captain having received their most violent attacks has disabled them thereby to teach us how to prevent their effects You would say that St. Cyprian intends to make of Man a Smiths Shop Caro autem sic utitur anima sicut faber maleo vel incude in qua format omnium turpitudinem idola D. Cypr. in Prolog tract de operibus carn Christi The Flesh is the Smith his Hammer is Concupiscence he makes of his Soul an Anvil The Flesh armed with her Concupiscence strikes with both Arms full stroaks on our Soul to forge therein the Idols of pleasure and expose them to a publick adoration And a little after falling from the Analogy of that comparison he casts himself on another where he compares the Flesh to Circe the Witch that mingles in her Pottage a mortal Poyson Mens ebria corpus contumeliis applicat junctis amplexibus ambo in mortiferas suavitates elapsi obdormiunt Idem ibid. For as soon as the Spirit does taste of that Potion of the Flesh there he lies drunk of a sottish Love which makes him give over to Concupisence a full right in all his pretentions and giving one another an unfortunate kiss they both fall into the fatal Bed of common perdition But all those actions proceeding from a bad Faith and grounded on a deceitful Cheat can give no gain of cause to the Body if the Soul be pleased to make use of the pieces which will easily justifie her Rights and Titles Nay without going any further let her use the Right she has of a substantial Information and she shall soon see the Body brought to his Duty By the right of a substantial Information Non est caro dictatrix peccati nec inventrix malitiae nec cogitatus format nec agenda disponit sed officina est spiritus qui in ea per eam quaecunque affectaverit peragit consummat D Cypr. supra the Soul has such an assendance over the Body that as the Body in the Being of Nature cannot boast to possess life but for so long a time as the Soul will stick to him So in the Moral Being of the practice of Good and Evil to make an action good or bad the Body will contibute nothing if the Soul does not co-oporate the Flesh does not dictate the SIN she does not invent the malice she does not dispose the thoughts she is only the Work-house of the Spirit where the Good and Evil begins and is consumated If the Soul cannot redeem her self from the Tyanny of the Body by the right of her Information Quis me liberabit c. Rom. 8. v. 25. let her have recourse to the means which St. Paul does prescribe in like occurrences who sighing under so cruel a Thraldom seems to cry for strength and assistance to God through Jesus Christ. When St. Augustine was on the point to break with all Worldly pleasures D. Aug. lib. 8. Concess c. 11. Ibi tot pueri puellae ibi juventus multa omnis aetas graves viduae virgines in omnibus ipsa continentia nequaquam sterilis sed faecunda mater filiorum gaudiorum de marito te Domine irridebat me irrisione exhortatoria quasi diceret tu non poteris quod isti est istae an vero isti etistae They all presented themselves unto him under the colours of a malicious compassion to mollifie with their Charms the force of his Courage To what purpose would they say do you engage your self in a life whereof the ordinary practice is to be among Chains Crosses Wheels and Gibbets But this great Saint considering on the other side the powerful Grace of Jesus as a Victorious Princess which carried in her right hand the List and Names of so many young Children of chaste Virgins of Noble Matrons snatcht from the World and the Flesh to serve God suffers himself to be easily perswaded that God who makes no exception of persons will not refuse him the efficacious assistance of the same Grace He fights then under that hope he invokes Jesus to his aid and notwithstanding the contradictions of the Flesh he appears Stout and Couragious against all occasions of Vice This Example will let those that are in Love with Liberty see that it is not incompatible with effectual Grace because this according to St. Augustine is a Victorious pleasure charming our Soul a Tryumphant Love predominant over our Will and a powerful perswasion captivating our understanding Forasmuch as God hath made Man free never taking that from him which once he hath bestowed upon him he could not have imployed a more gracious nor more effectual way to gain Him than pleasure All Creatures are taken with it and the Poet had reason to say there is nothing that is not sweetly Master'd by Pleasure The Ambitious seek not so much the reputation in Honours as the pleasure because they contemn them as soon as they cease to be agreeable The Covetous is not so much provoked with profit as pleasure in the desire of Wealth because he spends many times prodigally to procure other things that more delight him Nay the Lascivious Wanton is not so much in Love with Beauty as with pleasure because he placeth his affections sometimes upon Objects that have no appearance of Beauty and many times forsakes a handsom Woman to Court a deformed one Thus pleasure is a powerful Charm that masters all Hearts Plunders Liberties and makes Slaves that never complain of Bondage because they are voluntary Lovers that seek the secret of purchasing affection study nothing but Complacency being assured they shall produce Love in that Heart where they have begot pleasure Flatterers never insinuate into the minds of great Men but by rendring themselves acceptable nor do their false commendations steal in at the Ears but because pleasure takes up the place of Truth The very Devils though our Mortal Enemies seduce us not but because they please us and had they not found out the Art of mixing Pleasure with Sin all their Temptations would be fruitless But the Will of Man though never so free hath such an inclination toward pleasure that did she never so strongly barracado her self she could not possibly resist it She holds out against Truth because she is blind and sees not the Beauties 't is adorned with she
us to Love God If Grace cannot force our Will because it is a Victorious Love it ought less to constrain it Because according to the Language of St. Augustine 't is a pleasant perswasion For this great Man considering that he was to deal with Free-will on one side and the Power of Grace on the other that he was to maintain the Empire of God and the Liberty of Man He hath always exprest himself so happily that he never prejudic'd either And as indeed Grace never forces Man but perswades him it holds some thing of Eloquence or of Reason that Triumphs over Liberty without compelling it Rhetorik is an Art that teaches us to perswade Truth Orators are agreeable Soveraigns that bear Rule over the minds of their Auditors that calm their Passions change their Designs and gently force their Wills Therefore was it unhandsomely done of that Ancient to compare Pericles with Pisistratus Quid enim inter Pisistratum Periclem inter fuit nisi quod ille armatus hic sine armis Tyrannidem gessit Cicero because this Tyrant domineer'd but over Mens Bodies that Orator exercised a Dominion over their Souls The one made use of Violence the other imploy'd nothing but Sweetness The one procur'd the hatred of his Subjects the other the Love of his Auditors For no man could complain of Pericles because he used nothing but Eloquence to perswade his command was founded upon Reason his Chief force consisted in Truth he subjected no understandings but by clearing them nor changed any Mens Wills but in taking them by their Interests or their Inclinations In a word Eloquence may boast her self a Soveraign that Reigns without Arms Subdues People by her Word convinceth Philosophers by her Reasons and Subjects Monarchs by her Power She protects the Innocent comforts the Distressed condemns or absolves the Guilty and she Animates the Advocates or the Judges produceth different Miracles in their Souls Whether she inchant the Ears by the Harmonious Cadencies of her Periods whether she excite Love and hatred by her Gestures her principal design is to master the Liberty of Man She appears complacent that she may be perswasive nor doth she require the attention of her Auditors but that she may get their consent 'T is true never any man complains of her Violence because she is Sweet and he that has chang'd his mind at the hearing of an Orator never accused him of Tyranny 'T is certainly upon this ground that St. Augustine calls Grace a very Powerful perswasion because imitating Eloquence it clears our Spirits calms our Passions and gains our Consent it hath this advantage over Eloquence that it hath no need of our Ears to win our Hearts it transmits it self by its self into the inmost recesses of the Soul finds out Reason in her Throne without employing the Senses carries Light into the Understanding and kindles Love in the Will Thus she perswades what she will to the obstinate Subdues Rebels without Arms makes her Subjects will what she desires they should and when she displays all her Forces she works the Conversion of a Sinner in a moment This certainly was the power Jesus Christ made use of when he laid St. Paul flat at his feet when he Converted that Persecutor into an Apostle chang'd his Heart and his Tongue and made him that breath'd nothing but murther say Lord what wilt thou have me to do He lost not his Liberty for having lost his Fury He chang'd not his Nature for having chang'd his Judgement nor can we say that the perswasion that gain'd his consent was less free or more Violent for being too sudden Grace knows how to be obeyed without making us Slaves She can perswade without compelling and more Powerful then Eloquence is able to make us Love what we hated before That great Orator that guided the Roman Common-Wealth with his Tongue and made his Opinion so Dexterously pass into the Soul of his Auditors That Gallant Man I say hath wrought Miracles by his Eloquence which we have much ado to allow the Grace of Jesus Christ to effect He could boast that he alter'd the Resolution of Coesar defending the Cause of Ligarius that he shook the Papers out of the Hands and the hatred out of the Heart of that Conquerour that he made him re-call the Sentence he had already pronounced in his Soul that he overcame him by his Reasons that he Subdued all by his Arms and trampled upon the pride of a Tyrant that had Triumph'd over the Liberty of Rome In the mean time we have much ado to believe that Grace can work Miracles We weaken its Virtue to preserve our own Free-will We are not content that Jesus Christ should be as Powerful as an Orator and when we hear of these Victorious Graces and of these invinsible perswasions we imagine as if there were a design to oppress the Publick Liberty Let us ascribe that to Grace which we grant to Eloquence Let us confess that the Son of God knows how to imprint Truth in our Spirit and Love in our Heart to perswade us Infallibly Let us acknowledge that he is not to seek by what Stratagems to gain our Inclinations that his Grace more intimate then Concupiscence is able to become the Mistress of our Wills and whatever command she Exercises over us she never destroys our Liberty because she hath no other design then to redeem it out of Servitude Let us then conclude with the Example and Doctrine of St. Augustine that the Profession of a Christian and the Excellency of the Children of Grace is not to Prophesie future things nor to hurl the point of their Intelligence into the hidden Mysteries of Holy Scripture but to be Magnanimous and Couragious in the frequent Combats which Concupiscence give us for that is the only imployment which will make appear how strong the Love is which we bear to Jesus CHAP. XXXIX That the Grace of JESUS leaves that weighty obligation on all Christians to be both Souldiers and Conquerors THe God whom we adore takes his Glory as well from War as from Rest and if he be call'd in Scripture the God of Peace he is as often called the Lord of Hosts Multitudo militiae Caelestis His Angels are the Souldiers that wait upon him to the Battle who avenge him of his Enemies The Stars which keep watch as Centinels about his Palace bear the name of the Militia in the Language of the Prophets And all those that serve him for Ministers in his Embassies serve him for Combatants in his Conquest Labora sicut bonus miles Christ 2. Tim. 2. Therefore did the Angels who gave notice to the Shepherds of the Birth of Jesus Christ take their name from their principal imployment and called themselves the Heavenly Host And when the Son of God was taken in the Garden of Olives and blamed Saint Peter Nemo coronabitur nisi vicerit neque vicet nisi certaverit Quis autem
Love which render'd them tollerable shall make up but a small part of the pains of the Damned Alas if a little Head-ach sets us out of all order and patience a little swelling or matter under the nail will make us cry to Heaven and Earth the least prick of a Pin will give us a feeling what shall it be among so many and such searching evils of their own Nature and without remedy by the Divine Ordinance Let us pass over all this and come to consider the anguish and perplexity of the Spirit Let us if it be possible cast up an account of all the Rages Despairs and Melancholies of Men of that of a Judas who hangs himself of Otho the Emperour who not being able to get the Victory of Vitellius runs himself through with his Sword Of a Cassius who with the same Dagger he murthered Caesar in the Senate deprives himself of his Life Of a Silvius an Italian Poet who at the age of seventy five years plung'd in a profound sadness finding no other thing whereby to Exercise his rage pierces his heart with the point of a Nail Of a Galerius who smother'd himself in his Sheets And a number of others who went tormented in their Souls some have cast themselves into Privies others from the top of high Towers Yet all That is nothing to be compar'd to the rage and despair of a damn'd Soul The Devil will take occasion to Exercise new punishments on the reprobate from the pleasures he was most given to in the World Ambition made him to raise up his horns and in the smoak of a passing honour-to build for himself an Idol of presumption to which all his wishes and desires should offer continual Sacrifices Undervaluing Taunts Contempts and Rebukes shall be his ordinary Serenades Now a Devil boxing him will say get you gone unfortunate Soul you have lost your share of Heaven for a point of Honour Another will publish his most hidden sins Ibi dolor permanet ut affligat natura perdurat ut sentiat quia utrumque ideo non deficit ne paena deficiat D Aug. to 5. l. 19. Civit. c. 28. per totum there is the Hypocrite who past for a Saint among men to complain of these affronts he would not dare if he be not willing to have them redoubled to seek for one to comfort him or to be revenged of those Murderers 't is in vain all compassion is banished out of that Land 't is there that Cruelty sits in her Throne Ah dear Soul to escape those torments will you not have pity of your self This is not as yet enough those fires remain without mercy those burning flames which devour and those parching heats which consume without giving death and give Death without consuming Qualitatem doloriferam igni Deus imprimit Suarez Flames which act no more within the order of their natural Activity though the same be most rigorous but which receive new dolorous Qualities which God draws from their obediential power as well for to torment the Body the more as for to act against the Soul Quod a diabolus ejusque Angeli cum sint incorporei corporeo tamon cruciantur igne quid mirum si animae antequam recipiant corpora corporea sentiant tormenta D. Greg. 4. Dialo though she be Spiritual For as God uniting our Souls to our Bodies makes it that our Souls are sensible of the sores of the Body he may as easily command the fire to act against those very Souls and make them to resent the violence of its Action And even as he does elevate the Water which is an Elementary Body to the Spiritual effects of Baptismal Grace so he does elevate those Fires though they be Material to the punishment of Spirits without any contradiction or dis-agreement of the Soul with the Fire no more than there is of Grace with the Water The Prophet I say cannot look on those Furnaces but he must fall into a weakness of heart Hugo of St. Victor gives us the reason of it and says that those Fires are to be admir'd in one point which is that they do operate without loosing any thing of their force because they meet with no contrary Agent that might moderate their Action they are mixed with a Sulphureous Fat thick bituminous matter to give them a more scorching heat And which is more this Doctor is of opinion Ibi omnia genera tormentorum sunt congregata sicut aquae maris in alveo suo Hugo Card. in c. 16. Luc. that if all the Waters of the Sea nay if the Heavens had opened their Cataracts even to power down therein an Universal Deluge it would signifie no more then a little drop of Oyl cast into Vulcan's Furnace We must not imagine that those Fires have no further power to act on the Damn'd Souls than to intimate their commission at length and to startle them with a threatning pain or to serve as high Walls only in form of a Dungeon where the Spirits are detained Prisoners No no those Fires are not to be suppos'd to act only by an intentional Species which supplies the want of a proportionable Object For then the Devils having a general Species of all matterial things by infusion from the instant of their Creation it would be no great trouble to them And therefore it is necessary that the real presence of the substance of the Fire be there Habebit tunc carnis substantia qualitatem ab illo juditam qui tam miras varias rebus indidit quas videmus eas quia multae sunt non miremur D. Aug. l. 21. Civit. c. 4. per totum joyned with the dolorous qualities which God gives it in the instant of its Elevation to the end that it should adhere to the Souls with so straight a tye says St. Augustine that the Union of the Soul with the Body in the rights of Information cannot be more intimate than that of the Damned Souls is to the Fire of Hell CHAP. XLII The second Consideration of Hell Virgil. 6. Aeneid WHo will not tremble and cry out at the sole remembrance of that dreadful thought The Latin Poet describing the horidness of those Subterranian Mansions conceives a Den in form of an Abyss fortified with a triple Wall which a Torrent of Flames does environ on all sides and an Iron Tower with Brass-Gates which all the Gods are not able to break open on one side a Gnosius and a Radamantus may be seen there to put those unfortunate Criminals to the torture and on the nother the Alcides Titans and Salmones punished for their crimes committed against Jupiter Nevertheless he seems to give them some hopes that after the expiration of their offences they may flye unto the Elizean Fields though it must be with some difficulty However Faith will have us to believe the contrary Theseus got out of the Labarinth by the favour of a Thred he had received
of grief and sorrow which renders man in Hell more un-fortunate then all the Devils For besides the loss of the intuitive Vision of the Divine Essence he is condemned never to see the Sacred Humanity of Jesus which is to he the Beatifying object of our Bodies as the Divine Essence is that of our Souls She would willingly be of the condition of still-born Children and without Baptism which in truth are damned because they do not see God but their Damnation is so much made less that having no explicite Faith by which they might learn the great advantages of the Super-natural Life they do not so much resent the misfortune of its everlasting loss Moses and St. Paul in the Excess of their ardent Charity for their Neighbour made great and most earnest Prayers to God the one to be blotted out of the Book of Life the other to be Anatheme for his Brothers but always their Prayers were with that Essential Clause that they should not be for ever excluded from the sight and presence of God For without that Circumstance their Vows would have been Criminal with that condition they were just For they knew well both the one and the other that if God could be seen in Hell as a blessed Object Hell would be a Paradise and if in Heaven they could be deprived of that Vision Heaven would be no better then a Hell to them The Poor Cain among other Articles of his Judgement for the Fratricide committed on the Person of Abel was not so much perplexed until that he had seen himself condemned to withdraw from the presence of God Ah? what shall become of me now says he must I go like an Errant and a Vagabond among the Bruits the first that shall come to take me by the neck will cut my throat if he be so dispo'd To whom shall I have recourse if God does banish me from himself Whom shall I make my moan to if he will not hear me Christians the Banishment of Cain is but a Metaphorical Privation of the presence of God But that of the Damned is real and true and withall it puts me in mind of that Great and General Torment which is so often repeated in Scripture by the name of the Worm of our Conscience Vermis Conscientiae Mat. 9. so called because that as a Worm lyes Eating and Gnawing the Wood wherein she is Lodged So shall the remorse of our Conscience lie within us griping and tormenting us for ever And this Worm or Remorse shall Chiefly consist in this to represent to our mind the means and causes of our present extream Calamities that by our main Folly and through pur woful negligence we have lost the happiness which others have acquired by the constant care they had of their Salvation And at every one of these Considerations this Worm shall give us a deadly pinch which shall reach even to the very bottom of our hearts As when it shall appear to us how easily we might have conquer'd Heaven and that we shall see the occasions which had been offered to us to avoid the misery wherein we are at this present and shall be for ever intangled How often we were to resolve our selves to lead a good Life and yet how unfortunately we put off our good Resolutions How many times we were foretold of this danger and yet how little care we took to avoid the same How vain these Wordly Trifles were wherein we spent the best of our days if not all our life and for which we lost Heaven to purchase Hell with all its intolerable Miseries How they are now exalted whom we thought Fools in the World And how we are made Fools and laught'd at who thought our selves to be the Cato's and Solomons of the World These considerations and a thousand more laid before us and by our own Conscience shall bring our Souls to an Abbyss of Desolation and Greef without hope of ever receiving any comfort this is what I call the Worm of our Conscience which will be of more force to make Men weep and howl at that dreadful day then any other torment that Hell can afford considering how Negligently Foolishly and Vainly they are come into that dark Dungeon where they shall have no more time place or leave to redress their Errour For now is the time of Weeping Wailing and of everlasting Lamentation for these Men and yet all shall be in vain Now they shall begin to fret and rage and wonder at themselves now they shall say but too late where was our Judgement when we follow'd the Vanities of the World and post-pounded nay contemned the main Work of our Salvation Now they may say in those devouring Flames what the Sinners do say by the mouth of the Wise in Scripture Sap. 5. What hath our Pride or what hath the Glory of our Riches avail'd Vs they are all now vanished like a shadow We have wearied out our selves in the way of Iniquity and Perdition but the way of the Lord we have not known This shall be the everlasting Song of the Damned and Tormented Conscience in Hell Eternal repentance and to no purpose which will bring him to such despair says Scripture that he shall turn into fury against himself tear his own Flesh rent his own Soul if it were possible and provoke all the Devils and Damned Souls in Hell to add more to his Torments because that he hath so beastly behaved himself in his life-time as not to provide a better Residence and a more pleasant Entertainment for his poor Soul Oh will he cry if I could have but another short life to lead in the World what would I not do what Mortification and Pennance would I not undergo with what diligence and severity would I Practise all sorts of Virtues But all this will not do for there is no such grant to be expected neither is there any Price or Value able to purchase it for him We only dear Christians that are as yet alive do enjoy this inestimable Grace and Treasure of Time for our amendment I wish we may be so happy as to improve it to our everlasting advantage One of these days we shall be past it also and shall never recover the same again no not one moment if we would buy it with a thousand Worlds Let us then now make good use of this benefit for this is the only time wherein we may shelter our selves from all the Rigours of the World to come Now I say and out of hand for we know not what shall become of us to morrow It may be to morrow our Hearts will be as hard and as careless of these important Affairs as they have been heretofore and as Pharaoh's heart was Luc. 16. after Moses departed from him O how fortunate a Creature had he been if he had resolved himself throughly whilst Moses was with him If the Rich Glutton had taken the time whilst Lazarus lay at his Door how
For if our Saviour's hair be wet with the dew for having tarried too long a time at the door of our Souls it must of necessity follow that he was bare-headed Even as a Man who is desirous to hear what is said or see what is done in a Lodging stoops down takes off his Hat draws nearer for fear that he should not hear the voice of them from whom he expects his answer En ipse stat post parietem nostrum respiciens c. Cant. 2. v. 9. In pariete propriae voluntatis fenestras reperit Deus inclinationis nimirum ipsius voluntatis per quas respiciat gratiae intuitu quasi per cancellorum foramina inspirationum suarum radios immitat Gislerius in cap. 2. Cant. expo 3. v. 9. So that in the ardent desire he has to hear and see what is doing within doors he willingly suffers all foul weathers The Holy Ghost makes use of the same Comparison Lo here he is says he speaking of the Spouse hidden behind the wall who looks in through the openings and chincks of the door for he is so desirous to know what we do and whether we hear his voice or no that he spares not to stoop down and look in through those overtures with a great deal of attention for fear that our answers should be so weak that he could not over-hear them Have we spoke the good word have we produced an act of amendment of life God is over-joy'd as if he had found what he look'd for he gives notice to the Angel-keeper Oh! I have heard her voice at last that Soul hitherto always gave me the deaf Ear Here she comes now to the Door now she is mine I heard her say that she would quit the World and all its allurements to follow me I am extraordinary well satisfy'd now for all my Labours Vos de deorsum estis ego de supernis sum c. John 8. v. 28. The third excuse that Worldings bring down to justifie their crooked ways is that they are not of the same Religion that Jesus Christ is of and therefore they can have no Communication with him without undervaluing their own Profession Pray dear Jesus let us know what Religion you are of I am says he from above and you are from below I am from Heaven and you from the World Above and below Heaven and Earth are far asunder We must not think it strange then if betwixt God and us there is so little correspondence if he goes among the great ones to purchase their Souls they will be very free with him they will tell him plain down-right that they are none of his Profession they will warn him away from Court for they will have none of his Maxims there Jesus makes an open Declaration in his Gospel that though he be King of all the World yet that his Kingdom as for the Dominion of Lucre and Profit was not here below For Humility was his Prerogative the Cross his Scepter the Thorn his Crown Calvary his Pallace Labour and Toyl Afflictions and Crosses his Revenues The Martyrs his Regiments the Disciples his Guards Filij Agar exquierent sapientiam que de terra est Baruch 3. v. 23. and the Poor Apostles his Officers The care of Great ones is quite contrary for all their Study is to amplifie their Estates by the utter Destruction of their Inferiors and Ruine of the Vulgar sort To shun Crosses to follow Ambition to suppress Devotion and all Christian Exercise to follow the Maxims of a most unlucky Policy that makes no further use of true Religion than as long as they see it consist with their Designs Matchiavel's Doctrine the most wicked of all Mortals If he goes to knock at the door of Ecclesiastical Persons he shall receive no better welcom Obliti sunt Deum qui nutrivit eos c. Baruch 4. v. 8. For if Jesus be a vigilant Pastor over all his Flock and feeds his Sheep with his own Flesh and the Blood of his Veins to give them Life everlasting if well received the most part of Church-men will be either wicked or unprofitable wicked for not honouring the greatness of their Character and Sacerdotal Ministry by the good example of their holy life and conversation unprofitable for their want of courage to arm themselves manfully to resist the often incursions of Satan that Infernal Wolf who devours the Flock of Jesus not daring to bark for fear of blows Totus mundus in maligno positus est 1 John 4. v. 19. Go over all other States and Conditions their return shall be the same their answers alike and their obstinacy in all points equal So that what ever endeavours our Saviour makes to convert us and call us to himself Arvinae toris membrorum moles robusta pinguesci ut saginatus in poenam charius pereat c. Cypr. ad donat though they be very efficacious yet they are often without effect Because that it seems we made a Vow to destroy our selves A State truly deplorable if our dear Jesus had not a greater Love and Care of us than we seem to have of our own Salvation CHAP. XII That to become Servants to God we must know the World IT is a true Maxim generally received among Phylosophers that to speak pertinently of a thing we must have a full knowledge of its Nature which cannot be acquired but either by Definition or Description The first makes appear it's Essence in the constitutive Principles of its Being the second discovers its principal properties by the Operations that strike at our Senses My aim is to let the Soul know that to convert her God sets before her eyes what a deplorable thing it is to serve the World I cannot perform this methodically but by describing its properties to the end that we conceive as much esteem for it and no more than it has of real and well-grounded conditions which render it worthy of Love What is the World Omne quod est in munda concupiscentia carnis est c. John 2. v. 16. If I make my Addresses to Scripture there I shall find the three main Pillars that bear it up Concupiscence of the Eyes Disorder of the Flesh and Pride of Life If I consult the Phylosopher he will tell me that it is a Sophistical and cheating Argument that always deceives by Equivocation that places the shadow for the real Existence of things That has but Negative Principles and would fain conclude affirmatively If I put the Question to Astronomers their answer will be that it is a stray'd and wandering Star that has no fix'd or settled place and whence they can draw no assured ground to know the Horoscope or Fortune of any Creature that it is a Body formed in the Region of the Air which having no support but a light and inconstant Cloud vanisheth away as soon as it begins to appear The Mathematician is much of the same opinion he
difficile est ut linguae saecularium men tem non inquinet quam tangit quia dum plerumque eis ad quaedam lonquenda condescendimus paulisper assueti hanc ipsam locutionem quae nobis indigna est etiam delectabiliter tenamus ut ex ea jam redire non libeat ad quam ex condescensione venimus inviti D. Greg. to 2. lib. 3. dialog cap. 15. and Capharnites happens to very many in our days which is That our Saviour speaking to them of Holy and Profitable things of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament of the necessity of Crosses of the obligation of sufferance says that they are things hard to be digested they cannot give ear to them they are altogether displeasing to them and for to express their unwillingness to practice them they do withdraw themselves one after another from under so heavy a Yoak Is it not a strange and most deplorable thing that now-a-days it 's taken for the meerest folly in Nature to speak of God in any Meetings He is but an Alter-piece a devourer of Images a rouler of Beads a Melancholick and Hypocondriacal man who will offer to speak of Devotion in company they will presently begin to jeer him to smother his feelings of Devotion and Piety Gorrumpunt mores bonos colloquia prava 1 Cor. 15. v. 33. Is it possible that the World has blotted out of our hearts the Memorials of the Recognizances which we owe unto him whom the very senseless and dumb Beasts cannot forget We will make such large amplifications of a matter of nothing and we shall not have a word to say of the King of Glory of a God of Majesty inexhaustible source of perfection We will pass over whole days to entertain a company with Stories with Fables with Fictions without truth or ground and we shall be sorry for one quarter of an hour imployed to set forth the Praises and Glorious Prerogatives of our Redeemer A Commedian a Stage-player shall be heard as an Oracle and he who will declare the Word of God must be commanded to keep silence Do we not fear the Fatal Effects of that most Dreadful Sentence pronounced by our Saviour against them who shall be ashamed to confess him before Men Vitiorum exempla oppugnant animum immutant transformant miraculo erit inter incendia vel non sâ—mi vel ceâ—tè non incaâ—esâ—ere S Cyprian de spectaculis that he will not acknowledge them before his Father which is in Heaven They are the People to be shun'd as a Plague that infects all the World as so many Incarnate Devils whose conversation and company brings us nothing but misfortune and woe It is then most true that good conversation and company is an efficacious means that God makes use of to convert Souls That of the wicked is also another strong means whereof the Devil makes use to cross his designs of their Conversion And so we must conclude that he who is taken with this company goes on headlong to everlasting destruction whereas the former has found out the right Road to Heaven and the assured means to work his Salvation CHAP. XXIII That to think of Death has a great power on the Conversion of a Sinner THere is neither Rule nor Law so Universal Statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori post hoc autem judicium Heb. v. 27. but admits of some exceptions or difficulties there have been many and are at this present to my great grief that will hardly believe the Existance of a God But all without either exception or difficulty concur in this Point that we must all die we tread under our feet the dead to day and we shall be dealt with the same to morrow Testamentum enim hujus mundi morte morietur Eccl. 14. v. 12. For my part I do adore all thoughts which may conduce to my Salvation as of the love of God above all things who without any desert of mine has given me so many Graces of the Beauty of Heaven glorious and everlasting residence of the Blessed of the noble extraction of the Soul appointed from all Eternity to enjoy the intuitive Vision of the first Essence But in this point I must confess the corruption of my nature the dullness of my understanding such thoughts are good for purer Souls than mine is they are motives able to ravish a St. Paul into the third Heavens to Print on a St. Francis the Effigies of Christ to set a St. Bernard beyond his Senses and make all those extatical Spirits to fall into a weakness I am an insensible Rock to all those truths a Dyamond which those Darts cannot penetrate I am colder than the very Ice at the approach of those Fires But when I come to think thar poor Brother Lyon Capucin must die that I am now standing on my Legs and that to morrow they will put my Head into a Capuce for to cast me into the Earth That they will sing a doleful de profundis at my Funeral to send me to another World and give me the last farewel I raise up my shoulders I re-enter into my self my Blood is already frozen within my Veins I have no more mind to laugh than I have to live And really as I shall make it appear by moral induction there is no Motive more powerful among the Exteriours to stir up all sorts of persons to the feelings of their Salvation than the thought of dying To Youth it is a curb to stop them when they are in their full carreer to Perdition To Kings Princes Emperours and Monarchs a Subject of humility that they should not puff themselves up with over-much Pride above the People To Soldiers and Warriours a cause of humiliation that the favour of Fortune and Arms should not make them insolent To the most Holy Souls an ordinary entertainment Mors rot a incertè fixa brevis haec est multiplex vita sursum movetur ac deorsum trahitur fugiens tenetur manus effugit saltat plerumque nec tamen fugere potest stationem suam motu trahit retrahit Greg. Nâ—zianz in distichis to keep them within the limits of humility and from presuming any thing rashly by the Justice of their actions As for the Youth that Antient practice of the Romans was a rare spectacle and a brave Lesson they gave the young men of the City when they made up a most magnificent Sepulchre to the young Princess Servilia the rarest beauty that ever appeared in the Roman Empire Over the Marble cover of her Tomb was in the very middle an Earthen Pot and at both the ends two Nymphs in Womens shape from the Head to the Navel and thence downwards light-footed Deers so Artificially joynted Greg. Nazianz. in Moncast which looking fixedly at the Pot with a jeering smile would give it a kick at the same time and break it to pieces That Earthen Pot represented the Body of Servilia a Vessel