from Ariadne But he who once shall fall into Hell can never get out of it I know that Origen could never submit his Spirit to believe that a sin committed in an instant deserved an Eternity of pains imagining that the Mercy of God after a long Series of years would have compassion on those unfortunate wretches But by over-much raising his Mercy he brought his Justice very low and by stretching over-much the Arms of his Clemency he would fain cut short that of his just rigour He ought to consider Vide D. Aug. l. 21. Civit. â— 23. 24. seâ— that Justice and Mercy in God flowing from the same principle I mean his Divine nature have also for rule of all their actions the same Nature always equal and uniform Cum Christus in eodem ipso loco in una eademque sententia dixerit ibunt justi autemin vitam aeternam c. Paulo infra God does no injury to Man when he will have that in a moment of conversion he merits Heaven no more does he do him any wrong when he ordains that in a moment and for a moment of aversion he be Damn'd Par pari relata sunt hinc supplicium aeternum inde vita aeterna dicere autem in hoc uno eodemque sensu vita aeterna sine fine erit supplicium aetornum finem habebit multum absurdum est D. Aug. tom 5. l. 21. Civit. c. 23. in fine if he does die in that state For if any thing could be said to this that God does punish a Sinner with an Eternity of pains for having sinned in a moment there might be likewise somewhat said to this that for a moment of Penance for an act of Contrition produced in an instant he gives him an Eternity of glory none as yet was ever scandaliz'd by the second no more ought any complain of the first being that all things are equal in the one and in the other The Love of God above all things is that fundamental reason which causes the moment of Conversion to be rewarded with an Eternity of Glory and the hatred of God above all things inclosed in that moment of sin is the only cause of that Eternity of punishment If that moment had taken the evil consequences of its continuation only from the principle whence it departs it should be limitted and have some end But because it has for its Object an offended God whose Majesty is infinite it must be likewise Eternal and without end A Criminal Condemn'd to a hundred and one years of Bondage that is to say for all his life comforts himself nevertheless in two things the one that at last his Torments will end with his death the other that he shall not be always obliged to live in Slavery In Hell 't is an Eternity where they do not know what is a hundred years no more than a hundred thousand millions of years The length of time never produces the habit of enduring which renders Hell more insupportable For the same feelings which the Damn'd Souls will have the first day of their condemnation will continue in the same degree of rigour for an Eternity My God if I cannot suffer for the space of one Pater Noster the top of my Finger on a red Cole what shall I do if my Iniquities oblige me to live for an Eternity in those Flames CHAP. XLIII The third Consideration of Hell TO be for ever banish'd from Paradise and deprived of the Vision of God 't is a thought that goes beyond all that can be said of misfortune Never to see that Divine Face which does rejoyce the Angels that source of all Goodness from whence all the blessed derive the vivifying Spirit of their Beatitude That voluntary Looking-glass wherein all Creatures are to be seen eminently comprehended as in their originary principle can any thing be thought of more deplorable Super flumina Babilonis illic sedimus flevimus cum recordaremur tui Sion The Children of Israel sitting along the Banks of Babylon looking on one side at the Waters which by the swiftness of their course flowed by and ran away without ever stopping a lively Image of the passing Pleasures of this World On the other side beholding that Beautiful Sion whence they were carried by force to be led to Captivity would let flye a Million of languishing sighs from the bottom of their Hearts they are commanded to sound their Trumpets play on their Harps pinch their Lutes they answer that it is to treat them most inhumanely to require them to Sing at so extream a misfortune and that they could not exalt the Praises of the Lord in a strange Land They are I must confess miserable in this point of their Captivity But the day will come that they will return Tryumphing to Jerusalem when that by the sencerity of their humiliations they will appease the indignation of the Omniponentâ— The Damn'd Soul will have Eternal wishes to see her God and the Beauties of the Coelestial Jerusalem Wishes really which would not be so troublesome to her if God had deprived her of the lights of Faith For had she not so distinct a knowledge of the Good she looses Durandus in 3. distinct 25. 9. 9. Art 2. Alensis 3. part q. 64. memb 7. Catharinis Salmeron in c. 2. Jacob. Greg. de Vatentiaâ— 2. q 5. art 2. punct 2. she would have less feeling of her misery she is deprived of Hope and Charity And yet some Doctors worthy of Belief are of opinion that Faith remains to her intire which sets incessantly before her eyes the loss of her God and makes her clearly understand that by her own proper malice she has brought her to that irrevocable Exile and that she has Banish'd her self for ever from the intuitive Vision of God's Essence God lets her to see the degree of Glory which was pepar'd for her in his Eternal Idea's if making her profit of the Graces of Heaven she had amended her Life Servatur diviti cognitio pauperis quem despexit memoria fratrum quos reliquit ut divisa gloria despecti de poena inutiliter amajovum amplius torqueatur Hugo Card. in c. 16. Luc. and at the same time she knows that another Possesses the self same degree of Glory for having profitably mannaged the Grace which she did undervalue She knows the Honour which God renders to Holy Souls and how faithful he is in the Execution of his promises so far that he will not suffer the least glass of Water given for his Love to be unrewarded nor the least good thought without a special Title of Splendour and Glory And all those knowledges are new-found Punishments for a damned Soul which entertains a continual memory of the Goods which appertained to her through the sufficient Justice of the Incarnation but which she shall never enjoy through the infidelity of her Actions Alas among all those afflictions here is a new subject
hunc impossibile est intrare in regnum celerum Origenes Tract 3. ad illud qui scandalizaverit unum t. Whoever is not a Child after this Nature can hope for nothing in the successions of Heaven But take Courage for he who even from this World doth engage the Fidelity of his Word for assurance of an Eternal Blessing to them who without fraud or malice hanging close at the Paps of his Graces shall draw from thence the Spirit of Life will never deprive you of that Inheritance seeing that his Goodness is altogether as plenty in the Communication of his Favours as the Fidelity of his Word is certain in the Execution of his Promises The CONTENTS Chap. I. THat the Conversion of a Soul ought to be Fram'd according to the Word-Incarnate pag. 1 Chap. II. That the Conversion of a Soul is a second Nativity of Jesus pag. 12 Chap. III. Who ought to be the Father in this second Nativity pag. 23 Chap. IV. That there is in this Nativity a supposed Father as well as in that of Jesus pag. 30 Chap. V. That the Delivery and Birth of this Child must be in Pain and Sorrow pag. 38 Chap. VI. That this Sorrowful Delivery is the Accomplishment of the Word-Incarnate pag. 47 Chap. VII That it is the Angel of Great Council who brings to the Soul the Word of her Conversion pag. 54 Chap. VIII That it belongs to God alone to Convert a Soul pag. 64 Chap. IX The Confidence that a Soul ought to have in her God pag. 74 Chap. X. How God does cast into a Soul the Seed of her Conversion pag. 83 Chap. XI The Stratagems that Jesus makes use of to Convert a Soul pag. 95 Chap. XII That to become Servants to God we must know the World pag. 110 Chap. XIII That we cannot complain of the want of sufficient means for our Conversion pag. 125 Chap. XIV That the Infidel and Still-born Children cannot complain of God pag. 134 Chap. XV. God no sooner sees a Soul desirous of her Salvation but he gives her his helping Hand pag. 146 Chap. XVI How hard it is to Convert a Luke-warm Soul pag. 163 Chap. XVII God will not destroy those Luke-warm Souls which he begins to vomit pag. 172 Chap. XVIII For to Convert a Sinner God must afflict him pag. 181 Chap. XIX How the Devil hinders a Sinner to Convert himself to God in Affliction pag. 192 Chap. XX. It is by Preaching that Sinners are efficaciously moved pag. 202 Chap. XXI How Powerful good Example is for to touch a Sinner pag. 217 Chap. XXII If any thing be contrary to the Conversion of a Sinner it must be bad and scandalous company pag. 225 Chap. XXIII That to think of Death has a great power on the Conversion of a Sinner pag. 233 Chap. XXIV That the remorse of the Conscience is an Efficacious Instrument of our Conversion pag. 249 Chap. XXV That the Sinner can never be Converted whilst he smothers the Remorse of his Conscience pag. 261 Chap. XXVI That a Soul will not Convert her self to God unless she knows that she has no true Friend in this World pag. 268 Chap. XXVII That we cannot meet with a better Friend than Jesus pag. 279 Chap. XXVIII That Jesus is the only Friend who Comforts us on occasion pag. 293 Chap. XXIX That the Immortality of our Soul ought to make us undervalue the World pag. 307 Chap. XXX That the Mortality of our Souls sets all Crimes at Liberty pag. 319 Chap. XXXI That the Angels are imployed in the Conversion of a Sinner pag. 327 Chap. XXXII That the Devil hinders the Conversion of a Sinner pag. 338 Chap. XXXIII For to resist the Devil we must know his Power pag. 341 Chap. XXXIV The good Angels have more Power to Convert us than the bad Angels have to pervert us pag. 352 Chap. XXXV How the Flesh usurps on the right of the Spirit pag. 360 Chap. XXXVI The Second unjust Vsurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit pag. 365 Chap. XXXVII The third unjust Vsurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit pag. 371 Chap. XXXVIII That it is the Grace of Jesus which maintains the Spirit in his Rights pag. 375 Chap. XXXIX That the Grace of Jesus leaves that weighty obligation on all Christians to be both Souldiers and Conquerours pag. 393 Chap. XL. That the thoughts of Hell does bring the Sinner to his Duty pag. 406 Chap. XLI The first consideration of Hell pag. 409 Chap. XLII The second consideration of Hell pag. 416 Chap. XLIII The third consideration of Hell pag. 424 THE CONVERSION OF THE SOUL Form'd by the Patern of the Word-Incarnate PART I. CHAP. I. That the Conversion of a Soul ought to be Fram'd according to the Word-Incarnate WHat a High and Mighty Lord is Man what rich and ample Possessions has he if they had not been engag'd for the payment of his Debts All Creatures labour for his Service and seem to aim at nothing else but to procure his Glory St. Paul to set forth the Happiness of his Condition assures that the Angels were Created to Honour him with their Attendance Nonne omnes sunt administratorii spiritus Hebr. 1. The Sun the Moon the Stars are so many Lanthorns set out by the powerful hand of God to lead and lighten him through darkness the Heavens rowl over his Head to divide the year into Seasons for the welfare of his Body and the Recreation of his Senses they do power down their Influences upon the most private parts of the Earth to form therein Jewels and Pearls Gold and Silver for his Expence and Pleasure The Seas and the Floods Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus Ps 8. whose roaring waves and cloudy storms often make all the Earth to Tremble stand calm nevertheless at his Command for to give him a firm and free passage from one Pole to the other In fine there is not any Creature but what does cast it self at the Feet of Man in sign of Subjection and Reverence Who perhaps seeing himself in the Splendour of that great Empire will become as Insolent as the Prince of Laodicea who beholding his great Wealth his resplendant Court and gallant Attendance Dives sum locupletatus Apoc 3.17 said I am rich and potent I have all things at command I want no bodies help or assistance His Pride made him to forget his Extraction from Dust and Ashes as also his dependency on God and his former misery Let not Man fall into the same misfortune let him not admire over-much the Beauty of his fine Feathers let him not become so Insolent in the abundance of his Wealth nor conceive any vain glory at the Homage and Reverence which he receives from all other Creatures Let him remember that He hath nothing but what is lent to him and that he must be accountable for all the goods he doth enjoy He hath God for his Creditor who by giving cannot
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
se corrigat totum corpus exulcerat D. Ambr. supra will fall by degrees to greater The state of a Mortal Cold brings us presently to seek for a Remedy But that of Tepidity makes us to Loyter in our Laziness without any apprehension of fear and without the least thought of any Resolution to amend our Lives Set such an unlucky Spirit into a Religious Company I will tell you with St. Bernard who D. Bernard serm 6. de ascens Contra sane invenire est homines pusillanimes remissos deficientes sub onere virga calcaribus indigentes quorum remissa laetitia brevis rara compunctio animalis cogitatio tepida conversatio c. after he had extol'd the rare qualities of those fervent Spirits the Apostle speaks of adds presently the properties of a lazy and languishing Soul They are Pusilanimous men and of little Heart who go on like so many Snails in the way of Salvation who have need of Rods and Spurs to set them a going If they do rejoyce it is not with that Holy Liberty proper to the Children of God who offer up their Vows with a Cheerful Heart to their Creator If they be Sad it is but a Mercenary Sadness it is only for fear of a reproach or for the sake of some Temporal Reward Their compunction is very rare and passes as the Wind Their Thoughts are altogether Bruitish their Conversation without Example their Obedience without Devotion their Recreation with Excess Take notice of them in their Conference and on all other occasions they cannot Speak but they must pick a Quarrel with this Man Snap at another and so Trouble all the Feast If you do consider them in Prayer their Bodies are in the Choir their Minds are in the Fields Distractions without number Castles in Spain Monsters over all follow them to their Chambers Sleep overcomes them Reading displeases them to be alone is odious to them In a word they are come to that pass that the Torments of Hell are not able to Fright them out of their slumbering and languishing Life It is no more reason that rules their Actions They are neither without nor within they are neither Dead nor Alive it is a deplorable thing to see them It is to this purpose that one of the Antient Fathers of the Desart being ask'd the question what was his opinion in this matter Ruffious in vivis Pâ— lib. 3. num 204. brought down a rare Comparison Just says he as the Flies never come so near as to sit on a Pan that is Boiling because they would loose there both their Wings and Lives Filii tui projecti sunt dormierunt in capite omnium viarum sicut â—rix illa queatus cap. c. 51. v. 20. Septua Vertunt sicut beta semicocta Arab. sicut beta deficiens prae siccitate hoc est imago hominis tepidi qui prae desidia caput erigere non valet Purpureus veluti eum fios succisus arâ—tro Languescit moriens lassaque cadavera collo Demisere caput pluvia cum forte gravantur 9. Aeneidos But when they do meet with Lukewarm water in a Vessel there they take up their quarters and leave their dirt It 's the same with a fervent Soul burning with the flames of true Charity all her actions are so many boilings of Love Never fear that Satan ever comes near her he is an Enemy to those Divine Fires at which he endures more Torments and receives more Affronts than he does in Hell amidst the Flames contrariwise if he meet with a Languishing Spirit with a Fire half out there he keeps close there he gives a solemn Invitation to all his Comerades to dress up their Beds Whoever had but the Eyes of an Angel to consider the divers motions of those Devils he would see them as so many Bees swarm like those miserable Wretches and from time to time cast thousands of foul imaginations into their Brains to Poison their Souls If the same Spirit comes to take up his quarters among the Wordlings the Blood of Jesus is already frozen within their Hearts the Primitive Fervour of Christianity in a manner decay'd If they be call'd to the Service of God they are half dead if they be summon'd to go to Confession to think of their Conscience they think themselves in the Pillory If they abstain from some unprofitable Visit to go hear a Sermon at every step they go upon Thorns I would rather meet with a Drunken man nay rather with a man plung'd in all manner of Vices so that he had not altogether smother'd the worm of his Conscience than with a sinner that goes at random and by custom to his Devotion his Hat is down on his Eyes his Beads in his Hand D. Greg. pastoral part 3. admonit 35. Quoniam frigus ante teporem sub spe est tepor autem post frigus in desperatione id est qui adhuc in peccatis est conversionis fiduciam non amittit qui vero post conversionem tepuit simul spem quae erat de peccatore subtraxit and his Heart over all his Concerns St Gregory gives you this reason for it What ought we to expect of a thing that is Cold when that it is put to the Fire we must expect it to be first Lukewarm and soon after to grow â—old So it is with a grievous Sinner the very first thing we can expect of him is that drawing near to the Fire of Divine Inspiration he will forsake his bad Life banish all his Cold qualities which are contrary to the Flames of Grace and by little and little with a just application of the Active to the Passive he will acquire that degree of heat whereon even his Conversion shall be form'd But a lazy Soul which was once made hot in the Furnace of Gods Love and goes far from the state of Grace by her Tepidity the first thing to be expected of her is Cassian collat 4. c. 19. that she will grow Cold that is to say that she will fall into a Mortal Sin We have seen says Cassian many Carnal Debauch'd Libertines brought from the cold of Sin to the heat of Love But in our Lives we have never seen any lazy sluggish Companion pass from Tepidity Rotis ô bubulce manus applica Stimulum bobus admove ac deorum deinde opem poscito ne si tu cesses frustra dii in invocentur Aesopus to the heat of a greater perfection in Virtue We read in a Prophane History of a man whose Cart was so far bogg'd in the High-rode that he could not get it backward nor forward yet this poor Fellow without any further trouble to get his Cart out of the Mire sits down hard by it expecting some Passengers and invoking the very Gods to his assistance Hercules happen'd to come that way with his Club in his Hand admires the laziness of the man he makes him to get up and to set his
with a generous heart all the difficulties and bad steps that he meets with in the Road if there be Hunger Thirst Cold or Heat he must be the first to feel it in his own proper Person Can there be a Christian if he be not a greater Coward than a Thersite who will not take a strong resolution to convert himself to Jesus Addit deinde Apostolus ibid. Et obliti estis consolationis quae vobis tanquam filiis loquitur c. follow his Colours fight under his Conduct being that besides Heaven which he does promise us as the reward of our Victories he does oblige himself to comfort us as often as we fight and as long as our Combat shall last CHAP. XXIX That the Immortality of our Soul ought to make us undervalue the World ARchimedes the Geometrician did boast in his days that he would make the Earth get out of its Center if any would assign him a point out of the Earth whereon he might fix one of the Rods of his Compass whether that be possible or no Cum interrogas unde sit anima utrum quasi regionem ejus patriam unde huc venerit nosse desideras propriam quandam habitationem animae ac patriam Deum ipsum credo esse à quo creata est substantiam vero ejus nominare non possum non enim eam puto esse ex his usitatis notisque naturis quas istis corporis sensibus tangimus D. Ang. tom 1. de quantitate anima cap. 1. circa initium I refer it At least I can tell for certain that the effect of his Art had never any Existence but in his own imagination And yet bragging that he would do it has acquired himself the admiration of all Antiquity If God had reserved those poor Pagans to live in the Age of the Evangelical Law they would have far greater reason to admire the inventions of him who placed Heaven and Earth out of their Center There was a Man who gave such strong shakes to Heaven and Earth that he forced them to change their Center He is the Son of God who taking humane flesh has brought himself to nothing and in the point of that humiliation has made himself the Center of the World Heaven did incline it self to come towards the Earth and the Earth leap'd with joy for having by a new transmigration found so perfect a settlement hard by its Center Quid de anima firmissime teneam non tacebo anima hominis immortalis est secundum quendam moâ—um suum non enim oâ—â— mâ—do de siâ—â—t Deus de quo dictum est quia sâ—lâ—s habet immortalitatem Paâ—lo â—nferius This wise Philosopher teaches us another Secret no less to be admired than the former which is not only to make the Earth change its Center getting it a place in the very middle of the Firmament but also to draw down the Firmament to give it place in the middle of the Earth The Christian Sed quod ita moritur alienata à vita Dei ut tamen in natura sua vivere non omnino desistat c. D. Aug. to 2. de natura origine animarum Epist 28. non longè à principio who has a firm belief of the immortality of the soul is an admirable Mathematician who can when he pleases set the Earth where Heaven is and Heaven where the Earth is He sets the Earth where Heaven is when that walking without the gallery of his sences he launces the thoughts of his spirit into Eternity for to contemplate the wonderful productions of Paradise and that glorious Inheritance whereof a Terrestrial creature pretends to take possession He sets Heaven where Earth is when with St. Paul he converses among men as if he had lived in the company of Angels entertaining nothing in his spirit but Angelical thoughts Seneca the moral Philosopher in an answer he makes to one of his Friends who earnestly desired that he would be pleased to prove the immortality of Souls makes it well appear Habet anima mortem suam cum vita beata caret quae vera animae vita dicenda est sed immortalis ideo nuncupatur quoniâ—â—â—qâ— alicumque vita etiamsi miserrima est nunquam 〈◊〉 vivere â— c. fuse that it lyes in the power of man to do that wonder telling of himself that he did exercise himself a long time in that imployment altogether Divine You have very much troubled me in my rest says he to his Freind for when I received your Letter I was giving my soul the fore-taste of glory and charming the drousiness of my Body by the sweet thoughts of the Immortality of my spirit D. Aug. to 3. l. 14. de Trin. c 4. statim mitio I was of belief that there was nothing in the world able to divert me from so happy an entertainment You have crost me in the object of my delights importuning me about a question of which all well-tempered souls ought not to have the least scruple You had obliged me more had you either abstained from writing or written to exhort me to live conformable to my belief Would to God that the effect of that repartee of Seneca had happened to be true among Christians and that such as are imployed to instruct the people Imago Dei invenienda est in animo hominis id est rationali sive intellectuali imago creatoris quae immortalitati ejus est insita Aug supra c. 3. were not obliged to trouble themselves to prove that verity so conformable to nature that the very Heavens according unto the saying of the learned Suares imprints in our bodies a certain feeling of immortality I must acknowledge with Aristotle in his charmes that some unfortunate genius jealous of so great an advantage has pierced our hearts through with a fatal nail and makes us like so many Estriches who can well strike at our flanks with our wings But the corruption of our nature which is no other than the Philosophers nail makes us always to incline downwards without giving us the liberty to look at Heaven until that a favourable Zephirus comes pleasantly on to solace our weakness by the powerful contribution of its forces and makes us to enjoy that innocent pleasure St. Augustin speaks of which is to live Immortal in the corruption of the Flesh by the serious meditation of Eternity And really if a Christian will but give himself the least leasure to think on this Subject he will soon find out Cleombrotus in hac animi magnitudine teperitur quem ferunt lecto Platonis libro ubi de immortalitate animae disputavit se praecipitem dedisse de muro atque ita ex vita migrasse ad eam quam credidit esse meliorem D. Aug. to 5. l. 1 civit c. 22. that his Spirit is immortal He knows well that Nature suffers no Powers to stand idle or useless She has given them sufficient
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
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
the means of the Species and Images which the Spirit of Man invisible Painter draws from all the material Objects I say Images which bear no other name in our Schools than that of diminitive entities so much they are to be admir'd in their smalness The Angels who are superiours to Man as well by the Nobility of their Nature as by the constitution of their Essence have also the shapes and Images of all Sublunary things which give them a full knowledge of their singularities after such wonderful ways that there is nothing here on Earth but is perfectly represented to them in Heaven by their Pourtraits which they do so artificially devise within themselves but with this difference that Man by the long experience of things which he knows and perceives by his Sences takes even the Copies thereof and forms their Images on the model of the objects whereas the Angel who has neither Organs nor Sences to shape those Images and intelligible Species receives them from God immediately and by way of infusion from the very moment of his existance A acknowledge which is the foundation and ground of all the Angels power in regard of Men moreover to shew that the Saints now Canonized in Heaven have a particular care of those that are as yet on Earth besides the Article of Faith which obliges us to believe that according as their Knowledge does increase to a greater perfection so their Charity also will become greater and of a more vast extent The same it is with Angels whose powers may be reduced to two Heads pursuant to the two sorts of knowledge they have in relation to men The first is relating to Man in the state of his corporal and individuall nature Banc. in 1 part D. Tho. q. 57. art 1 p 740. not only touching the generality of his Essence but as yet in the singular circumstances of the Accidents and special Rencounters which are to befall him So the Angel of St. Peter for Example from the very instant of his Creation received from God by infusion an intelligible Species whereby he might know him when he would come to the World and with such particular marks that he could in no wise be deceived in such sort that the same abstractive Image which he receives of St. Peter before he comes to the World is the self-same which brings him to his knowledge when he is in the World wherein he partakes of the Excellency of that Eternal Idea which being but One and most simple represents unto him without any change things possible and actual God gave not this knowledge to Angels of our Persons Angelis suis Deus mandavit de te c. Psal 90. Petrus de Natal l. 4 c. 141. De excelso coelorum habitaculo ad consulendos visitandos adjuvandum nos attrahit supereminens charitas Angelos propter Deum propter nos propter seipsos Author libri de diligendo Deo apud Aâ—g to 9. c 3. in â—ine nor of the accidents which happen to us but with that weighty obligation to have a special care of us God commanded his Angels says the Prophet-Royal to direct and secure your steps in the slippery Ways and paths of the Earth that your foot may not meet with a stumbling Stone which might give you a fall It 's so that the devout Pilgrim of Orleance continuing his Journey to St. James in Calice received no hurt by the Robbers who waited for him at the passage of a River to plunder him for his Angel Guardian transported him to the other side of the water sooner than his Enemies could put their hands to their Arms to take away with his purse his life which was dearer to him then all that the World could afford him The second knowledge of Angels on the fact of men is to know the Supernatural means necessary to their Salvation among which the most adorable Mystery of the Incarnation holds the first rank as the chiefest and whereof depends all the rest with this difference that at the first instant of their Creation Faith made them only believe the chief motive thereof whereas at the second moment they had seen in the word both the motive and the particular circumstances as are his Nativity in the Stable his Death on Mount Calvary his Resurrection from the Tomb the Sacrament of Baptism the Institution of the Eucharist and the rest which were to follow that general motive And this for two Reasons the one touches themselves the other regards Us That which touches Them is being that Jesus Christ according to St. Pauls Doctrine was appointed supream Head both of Angels and Men Hebr. 1. and the first among the second objects of their Beatitude they could not affix themselves to him but they must have had him in perspective by Faith and in enjoyment by the Word and in the Word That which relates unto Us is that the Angels by the Duty of their charge being obliged to procure the Salvation of Men and to be the Ministers thereof according to the same Apostle it was convenient that they should know all the appurtenances of the Incarnation Otherwise God would have ordained them to an end without giving them the means to attain to it it would be to make them Guiders and Leaders to Men without knowing where to conduct them and have no ground to exhort them to the veneration of those Mysteries if they had not a former knowledge of their merits Now if the Devils at the first instant of their Creation knew the substance of this Mystery yet they stopt there without passing any further Christus Dominus tantum innotuit daemonibus quantum voluit voluit autem quantum oportuit D. Aug. 9. civ c. 22. not only because they would not know the circumstances of it in the Word for That was a Priviledge reserved to the blessed and which was deny'd to the Devils as being Apostates and Rebellious Spirits but only as for the Incarnation brought to pass in the difference of times they remained always doubtful whether the Son of God should or could die for Men until that by three Actions which could not come but from an Agent who resented a fulness of Divinity To wit to resuscitate glorious from the Tomb to bring the Fathers out of Limbo and mount up to the Heavens by his proper Virtue they were compelled against their Inclinations to confess with respect and fear what they did obstinately contest before We must then fear no more the Devils in the enterprize of our conversions For besides that all their power is under conditions and so little advantagious to their ill-will for us that they cannot hurt us but with our own consent we are assured in the behalf of our good Angels that they have both the power to comfort strengthen and also assist us without limitation and a good will to discharge themselves faithfully of their duty without weariness and upon all occasions CHAP. XXXV How the
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