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A54461 A sermon preach'd before the King and Queen in Their Majesties chappel at St. James's, on the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Octob. 25. 1685 by the Reverend Father John Persall ... Persall, John, 1633-1702. 1686 (1686) Wing P1652; ESTC R11063 9,002 31

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A SERMON Preach'd before the King and Queen IN Their MAJESTIES Chappel at St. James's on the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Octob. 25. 1685. By the Reverend Father JOHN PERSALL Of the Society of JESUS Professor of Divinity Published by His Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. A SERMON Preach'd before THEIR MAJESTIES On the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Octob. 25. 1685. Erat quidam Regulus cujus filius infirmabatur Joannis c. 4. v. 48. There was a certain Nobleman whose son was sick THE Holy Church in this Days Gospel invites us all to the Bed-side of a Rich Noble Young but Dying Prince who lies groaning at Deaths-door and notwithstanding his Plenty of other things is become a Beggar for a little Breath which all the Power of the World is not able to afford him I wish that the Followers of Sensuality who make Pleasure their God live as if they were never to die imagine Time to stand and laugh at Discourses of another World as Fables only for the Entertainment and Pastime of this I wish I say they would turn their Thoughts hither a little while and behold the dismal Theatre whereon every one of them must one day infallibly act the same Part which now this Noble Youth represents before them trembling betwixt two great Eternities of Happiness above and Misery below and uncertain which of the two is to be their Lot Now tho' we go no further certainly the Pangs of a dying Prince and Death triumphing over Wealth Nobility and Youth is an Emblem clear enough of the Vanity and Uncertainty of Worldly Happiness and might well deserve to be the Subject of our present Consideration Serm. 44. de Verbis Domini But because I hear the Great St. Augustin speaking of our Saviour's restoring the Widows Son to Life advise us That it was our LORD's Intention that by what he acted visibly towards the Body we should understand his invisible Operations on the Soul applying all his exteriour and Corporal Performances to an interiour and Spiritual Sense Dominus noster JESVS CHRISTVS ea quae faciebat corporalitèr spiritualitèr volebat intelligi It shall therefore be my present Endeavour First by the Sickness of this Youth to lay before your Eyes the Sickness of a Soul in Sin and Secondly from the Circumstances of his Cure we 'l gather the Means for the Curing of our Souls But because I am too conscious of my own Weakness to hope for any Fruit from my Words unless the Holy Ghost vouchsafe to put them in my Mouth and speak them again to the Hearts of my Hearers I must have recourse to the Blessed Virgin whose powerful Intercession is an Aquaeduct or Channel as the devout St. Bernard assures us through which Celestial Gifts are conveyed unto us Wherefore let us humbly invoke the same saluting her with the Angel Ave Maria c. Erat quidam Regulus c. IT being then my intent by the visible Sickness of the Body to discover the invisible Sickness of the Soul let us enter a little into the Chamber of this Dying Prince which probably you will find adorn'd with the richest Tapestry beautify'd with choice Cabinets and set out with other Moveables of the highest Price The Curtains Vallence and Canopy of the Bed all proportionable to the Nobility and Greatness of their Master but approach a little towards that stately Bed draw open those Royal Curtains and see what lies within A gasping Life an half-living Death a breathing Carcass His sinking Eyes already seek their Grave his pale and wan Countenance puts us in mind of his Winding-sheet the feeble and unactive Condition of his Body declares that he is Death's Close Prisoner the Panting of his Heart is a sad warning that the fatal Stroke is ready to be given which must break asunder the Gordian Tye betwixt Soul and Body And is this He on whom so much Gallantry do's attend Is it to him those Hangings Cabinets and Embroider'd Curtains do belong This certainly is the Fable inverted and not a Pearl on a Dunghil but a Dunghil in the midst of Pearls These were the visible Effects and Consequences of this Prince's Corporal Sickness Let us now try how far they will lead us towards the Discovery of the invisible Effects of a Spiritual Disease If you view the Chamber or Bed wherein a dying Soul lies gasping what for the most part more glorious It is one perhaps of these trimm'd-up Beauties of the World which seem to out-shine the Suns brightest Beams Gold Silver Pearls and whatsoever the blind World calls Precious is all too little to set them out But turn hither the Eyes of your Understanding draw open those gay Curtains by a serious Consideration and look on that Soul which lies within them O quale Monstrum What a Monster Had we Eyes of Angels it would appear far more hideous to us than the expiring Carcass which we just now beheld The Poyson of his Disease had dry'd and wither'd up his Body consum'd all his Spirits and the Soul being now ready to depart all the Train of Beauteous Features had already taken their leave But the Poyson of Sin is yet far ranker and its Effects upon a poor infected Soul far more deplorable It consumes to nothing all her Substance all the Stock of Grace whereby she flourisht The Sun of Justice her only Life is ready to withdraw his Divine Rays and consequently all the Flowers of Vertue must needs dry up and wither so that she who before had Beauty enough to enamour the very Fountain of Beauty is now become the Source of a Poyson rank enough to infect the whole World She is a meer Sink of Loathsomness and Corruption What is she else but a putrifying Carcass feeding the Worms of a bad Conscience and engendring innumerable venemous Infects I mean the cursed Brood of vicious Habits She breaths forth such a Stench that were our Corporeal Senses capable of being wrought on by Spiritual Objects it would not be possible for us to live within the Sphere of its Activity For the truth of all this I appeal to those Saints to whom Almighty God has given a more peculiar Light for the discovering the Horrour and Ugliness of Sin St. Chrysostom calls Sin the only Evil asserting That we ought to abhor nothing but Sin no not even Hell it self And the Reason hereof will appear clearly if we consider the Nature of an Humane Soul She is created to the perfect Image of her Creator and participates in an high Degree of his Divine Essence Divinae Particula Aurae Hence she has in her a strong and forcible Appetite of being united to her God and consequently cannot be at rest whilst she is separated from him but in this Night of Sin the Fogs arising from a corrupted Will do so obscure the Understanding that tho' the Soul perceives an unquiet Appetite within