and the other the Shadow and the Substance the Law and the Consummation of the Law to insinuate the same Spirit of God who dictated the First to be also the Author of the Second both are deliver'd upon the Mount both in Fire both with Sound and Majesty But as perfect Charity casts out Fear so the Law of Perfection is distinguish'd from the Imperfect by introducing Charity in the place of Fear a gentle lambent Fire in lieu of Thunder and Lightning by changing Mount Sina the Region of Terror for Jerusalem the Vision of Peace a frightful Desert for the Place of Prayer the Ministry of an Angel for the immediate Presence of the Holy Ghost The first was written in Tables of Stone the latter 2 Cor. 3.3 says the Apostle in the fleshly Tables of our Hearts the one was attended with all the Circumstances of Terror and repeated Menaces of Death and all little enough to make a stiff-neck'd People bend their Shoulders to a Heavy and Galling Yoke but the other as gentle in the Declaration as easie in the Execution is publish'd with the appearance of fiery Tongues Emblems of Softness and Eloquence Hieroglyphicks of Light and Charity to express its Efficacy not by Constraint but Insinuation not by Compulsion but Persuasion as Fire is the most bright most piercing and most active of the Elements and the Tongue the most tender in Substance the most easie in Operation yet the most powerful of all our Faculties In a word the first was deliver'd in Smoke and Clouds to signifie its Property Imperfection Obscurity Darkness or at the best a Cloud which was to break up and disperse umbra futurorum Colos 2.17 a Shadow which was to pass away the second under the Symbol of Wind pure open cleansing to shew the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as requisite to clear the Soul from the Corruption or Contagion of Sin as the Wind is to purifie the Air and the Air is to refresh the Body and therefore his Divine Presence is sometimes call'd a Blast of Wind as the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 4.16 Veni Auster perfla hortum fluent aromata sometimes a Breath of Air tanquam Spiritus aurae lenis sometimes Spiraculum vitae the breathing of Life and generally a Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only in reference to his Eternal Procession from the Father and the Son by way of Spiration or reciprocal breathing of Love but also in order to his Operations ad extra working himself into the Soul by insensible ways giving her Action and Motion as the material Air do's the Lungs and the animal Spirits every part of the Body Spiritus Sanctus vita spirituum sensificans vivificans says Richard of St. Victor Richard de S. Vict. l. 6. de Trin. Wherefore our Blessed Master who on this Day fulfill'd his Promise of sending the Holy Spirit compares it John 3.8 to the Elementary which bloweth where it lists whose sound we hear but cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit By which last Words he applies the Comparison as if he had said You are to believe the Influence of this Spirit as necessary to beget and perpetuate the Life of the Soul as you experience the other is to the Life and Welfare of Nature and as he that hinders the Air from passing into his Lungs must immediately be stifled or soon burnt up with interior Heat so he that checks the entrance of the Holy Ghost whose Property is to allay the Heat of Concupiscence with the nobler and gentler warmth of a Spiritual Love to asswage the Passions to cool and moderate the Affections or he that ejects him out of his Heart after he is enter'd is said to contristate to grieve the Holy Ghost and frustrate the end of his Coming Nolite contristare Spiritum Sanctum This Consideration carry'd me upon these Words of the Apostle and pointed them out as a proper Theme equally fitted to the Sanctity and Solemnity of the Time to the Necessities and Capacity of every Hearer and as the most important Advice can be given Christians who have already receiv'd and are suppos'd to possess the delightful Presence of the Holy Ghost to cherish that gentle Flame to treat the Divine Guest as becomes the Children of Light not only not to expel him out of their Hearts by any criminal Action or Consent but not so much as to give him the least Offence by remitting of the Devotion they feel or pious Resolutions they make at this Holy Time Nolite contristare c. But to maintain the Interests of this Holy Spirit we must have his Assistance the Power of Persuasion being one of those Gifts of Tongues which descend from above and which is obtain'd by the same Disposition the Apostles were in perseverantes in oratione by continuing in Prayer and if you would learn the Method the Evangelist delivers it in two words Cum Maria the Blessed Virgin is the Pattern the Holy Ghost found her in the same posture at his second Coming as he did in the first when the Angel saluted her AVE MARIA Grieve not the Holy Ghost THE Essential Joy which God possesses within himself and which is Himself places him above the reach of Grief but not above our Attempts to afflict him His Immortal Godhead and Power may secure his Being but not our Obedience we are as ready to take up Arms against him as if we could dethrone him at our Pleasure His Majesty and Justice may strike a Sinner with Amazement and Terror but not always with that Fear which works a stable Repentance Thus his Love and Mercy and Glory which establish his Beatitude his Glory that no Evil can approach him his Love and Mercy that he would pass by the Injury if any such could be done him exempt him from a possibility of grieving and yet we grieve him that is we are as criminal and injurious to him as if he were susceptible of our ill usage For tho' every Sin be levell'd at the Whole Trinity the Undivided Godhead against which it is committed yet the Holy Ghost to whom the Work of our Conversion is appropriated is said to be the Principal Object of the Injury as implying a horrible Contempt of his Favors Spritui gratiae contumeliam facientes Heb. 10.23 Our Faith teaches us to consider the Holy Ghost in two different States in reference to Human Nature the one as hovering over us and desiring to enter into the Heart of Man which belongs to him upon so many Titles the other as striving to keep possession of it which to maintain he has been so liberal of his Graces and Inspirations of his Gifts and Promises and even of himself Spiritus qui datus est nobis In each of these Circumstances we may displease and contristate him First If we refuse him admittance when he demands it And secondly If we oblige him
his just Severity while he foresees the Punishment he is going to inflict upon his Children will not amend them for the Crime is irremissible the Punishment is unavoidable the Crime a Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Matt. 12.31 and the Punishment never to repent of it non remittetur Indeed Divines are much perplex'd and can hardly agree in what this Blasphemy consists which so much exasperates the Spirit of God and turns the Meekness of the Dove into the implacable Fury of the Lion St. Augustin whose Judgment is of greatest weight supposes it to be final Impenitency as being the last and at the same time the Punishment of all other Crimes 'T is a Punishment and the severest of Punishments because a dereliction of God 'T is a Sin or a Circumstance of Sin because it renders all the preceding unpardonable But how come we to plunge into this bottomless Abyss of Misery unless by refusing Grace when it is offer'd us There is the Crime and are not we justly sentenc'd to it for our so long continu'd Resistances against the Divine Impulses so frequent Contempts of Calls from Heaven in Sermons Advices Examples Duties of Piety Occasions of Charity presented to us good Books put into our Hands Remorses started in our Consciences Convictions rising in our Understanding and holy Desires breath'd into our Hearts There 's the Punishment And what more just than that our own Measures should be turn'd against us that there should be a resemblance between the Chastisement and the Offence as Contempt was the Crime so Contempt should be the Condemnation The Sinner contemns God and God revenges himself by contemning him the usual proceeding of slighted Love qui spernis Isa 33.1 nonne ipse sperneris He applies his Mercy in quality of a Physician to heal the Soul but sometimes he must in like manner exercise his Justice by giving her over when her State is desperate Jer. 51.9 Curavimus Babylonem non est sanata To cure thee O wretched Creature to whom a Life spent in Disorders and Confusion has merited the Style of Babylon to cure thee I have apply'd all my healing Graces comforting Inspirations and sovereign Restoratives neither Oyl nor Wine neither gentler nor sharper Remedies neither Prosperity nor Persecution have been wanting to thy Wounds sed non est sanata but thou art not because thou wilt not be cured Derelinquamus eam thou art past recovery I will leave thee to the Cogitations of thy own Heart in manu consilii tui I will visit thee no more I will call thee no more I will quite forget thee I will not so much as be angry with thee any more auferetur zelus meus à te Ezech. 16.42 quiescam nec irascar amplius Now tell me Christian if such as refuse to give the Holy Ghost entrance into their Hearts so heavily contristate him how grievously do they offend who thrust him violently out of their Hearts after they had readily open'd the Gates to him receiv'd him honourably treated him friendly and reciprocally receiv'd unspeakable Instances of his Affection This is the next thing I have to consider Be pleas'd to accompany me with your Hearts as well as with your Attention Whether to be repuls'd from the Heart of Man or expuls'd out of it be the greater Affront to the Holy Ghost and the more deserving Subject of his Displeasure may be a question in the Theory and is discuss'd by Divines but I suppose in the Practice an indifferent Judgment may determine For as right Reason esteems it an Injury of a higher nature and far more provoking to treat a Man ill in his Presence than in his absence because it adds the greatest Impudence to the Indignity so the first Crime a Person in the State of Grace commits becomes incomparably more injurious by that Circumstance I might inforce this with the ordinary Topick of Ingratitude which stains it still deeper But I pass by these Two Reasons so considerable had I time to urge them to come to a Third drawn from the Injury God suffers upon the account he is chas'd from a Place he held by so full and undisputed a Possession and which belongs to him by an unquestionable Tenure and so many warrantable Titles Elegit Israel in possessionem sibi Psal 134.4 He has chosen Israel for his possession says the Royal Advocate of Heaven Now do we find our selves so nearly touch'd and so vehemently exasperated when an Intruder comes to thrust us out of doors and seise on our Inheritance and shall we allow no Resentment to the Holy Spirit when he is wrongfully and contumeliously ejected out of his Habitation for he dwells in the midst of us out of his Temple for you are the Temples of the Holy Ghost out of his Empire for the Kingdom of God is within you out of the Seat of his Pleasure for his Delights are to be with the Sons of Men Do we not suffer any one to dispute our Right to what we have made with our own Hands Such is the Heart of Man to the Holy Ghost Do we not account it as abfurd as impudent to demand whether the thing be ours which we have bought Such is the Heart of Man to the Holy Ghost Do's not a long Prescription justifie a Tenure and long Possession create a Title Such is the Holy Ghosts to the Heart of Man For he lays claim to it not only because he is the Spirit of God the Father who created us of God the Son who redeem'd us but also because he has Rights to us peculiar to himself by the Love he bears us by the sanctifying Grace he has bestow'd upon us This is what the Apostle seems to point at when immediately after he had exhorted the Ephesians in the words of my Text not to grieve the Holy Spirit he adds for a Reason in quo signati estis because you are seal'd by him because you have receiv'd his Character as Men use to imprint their Arms or Mark upon such things they esteem most precious and would not have usurped or violated by any foreign Hand Signati estis The Holy Ghost impresses himself upon our Hearts in every Sacrament I shall instance only in two Baptism and Penance In Baptism he imprints such a Character upon the Soul as neither Time nor Eternity can deface neither Violence nor Sin can raze out for since nothing is destroy'd but by its Contrary the Characteristical Form must be indelible says the Master of our Schools as having nothing contrary to it self The Sacrament of Penance leaves not indeed such an immortal Impress behind it but plains out all the Tracts of Sin and imprints upon the Level an habitual Love which is the Seal of the Spirit and which our Blessed Saviour makes a distinctive Character between his Friends and his Enemies In quo signati estis we are mark'd as his Living Temples according to the Custom of all Religions that
ingrave on the Frontispiece of their Temples or in the most eminent Part of them Hieroglyphicks of the Divinity they adore And do you not know says the Apostle that you are the Temples of the Living God Your Heart is the Sanctuary where the Father is worshipp'd in Spirit and Truth Charity is the Priest Faith and Hope are the Assistants Penance and Prayer are the Sacrifices And tell me now ungrateful Christian after so full so free so long and solemn a Possession to be turn'd out all on a sudden in a moment as soon as a Mortal Sin can be committed and this to make way for his mortal Enemy to be sold for the fulsom Pleasures of this World for a Lust or an Ambition to be exchang'd for the amusing Trifles Vanities and Riches is it not the highest Injustice and most foul and abominable Sacrilege An Injustice because you prodigally cast away what belongs to another Non estis vestri Do not think you have power to ruine your selves or that you wrong no Body but your selves 't is a vulgar Saying and a vulgar Mistake You are not your own A Sacrilege because you rob the Temple of the Holy Ghost where he had treasur'd up the Riches of his Goodness where he had made the Repository of his Graces Is it strange then he conceives so high a displeasure at such ill Usage that he breaths out such lamentable Complaints by the Mouth of the Prophet Afflixerunt Spiritum Sancti ejus Isa 63.10 They have afflicted his Holy Spirit they have griev'd his very Soul not only for the Injustice not only for the Sacrilege nor only for the Expulsion but much more for the aggravating Circumstance the Contempt For tho' every Sin be injurious to the Holy Ghost and of what nature soever involves a Contempt of his Divinity by disobeying his Commands an undervaluing his Person by banishing him our Company and a scorn of his Gifts by casting them from us yet every considering Man will grant the first Capital Offence a sanctified Soul commits is big with a particular Contempt and Slighting of the Divine Spirit because it not only thrusts him out of his Possession but do's it to introduce the Spirit of Pride of Luxury of Ambition of Covetousness and the like in his place By which the Sinner declares that he sets a lower Value on Jesus Christ than the most trivial Satisfaction of the World For whether he makes a distinct Reflection on it or no it is certain he virtually compares the Good Spirit which is in possession of his Heart with the Evil one which is solliciting admittance and by consenting to Sin he declares his Judgment and shews which is preferable in his esteem There is no sort of Contempt like that of Comparison which not only despises a Man but to increase the Confusion and Affront first sets another in competition with him and then gives that other the advantage over him Which Proceeding tho' ever odious in two Cases is most abominable in the Rights of Sovereignty and in the Interests of Love If a People should depose their Prince they would commit the foulest the most unjust and most unchristian Action in the World but if they stop there 't is only an absolute Contempt But if the giddy Multitude proceed to a new Election and put up the mortal Enemy of their Lawful Sovereign then 't is a Contempt of Comparison If a Wife suffer that Conjugal Affection to die which Nature and Religion oblige her to cherish towards her Husband 't is a horrible Injury 't is a Contempt for there can be no Indifferency in that Case But if she turn her Affections upon a Stranger the sworn Enemy of her Lawful Spouse such a Preference heightens the Affront beyond all that can be express'd beyond all comparison and chases Anger into Desparation and Fury Now what Resentment Passion raises in Men Justice kindles in the Holy Ghost for he enters a Soul in both these Qualities as Sovereign to make it the Seat of his Empire regnum Dei intra vos est and as a Spouse to contract with it the nearest and most sacred Alliance Sponsabo te mihi in sempiteruum Yet every idle Pretender every rebellious Appetite or unruly Passion is admitted to dispute his Title while the Owner is forc'd to plead his Right before a corrupted Judge the Free-will of Man while the Heart an unfaithful Spouse is not only consenting to his Banishment but also before his Face abandons her self into the Embraces of a foul Adulterer the profess'd Enemy of her rightful Lord preferring the momentary Pleasures of this World before the eternal Caresses of his Favour But he bewailing her Loss more than his own when the losing of him is indeed the losing her self follows her with the Tears and unspeakable Groans of her Mother the Church begs of her to return more to her self than to him Redite peccatores ad cor and is contristated that she will neither believe nor prevent her endless and unconsolable Sorrow Si cognovisses tu And what do you now expect Christians but that to close up this Discourse I joyn my Voice to that of the Holy Ghost and become his Advocate who pleads for himself to your Heart and that I beg of you once with my Lips what he do's every moment by his Grace Nolite contristare For his and your own sake have pity upon your own Souls and cease to grieve the Holy Ghost 1. If you have not yet given him entrance by a faithful Obedience to his Call hear his Voice even this day harden your Hearts no longer put an end to your Reluctances and Resistance There are but two Wills concern'd in your Conversion but two Consents requir'd to the thoro ' Amendment of your Life the Holy Ghost's and your own And I hope from what I have discours'd you are very well satisfied that the Holy Ghost wishes nothing so earnestly desires nothing so passionately demands nothing so instantly And do you deliberate upon the matter Do you entertain the Motion so coldly Is your Salvation in your own Hands and you stand demurring whether you shall accept of it Is that freely offer'd you which you ought to have su'd for with flaming Sighs and unexpressible Groans gemitibus inenarrabilibus Is it not Crime enough to have hitherto resisted his Inspirations stopp'd your Ears against his Calls rejected his Counsels and trampl'd upon his Commandments Will you continue in Rebellion till there is no Mercy left for you Will you seal up your Ears till the Invitation is past Will you not render to his Counsels till it be too late nor acknowledge his Commandments till you are lost for ever Will you send back his comfortable Venite's Come to me with the Language of the wicked Recede à nobis Depart from us and force him to that bitter Retaliation Recedite à me Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire And this you do while you continue to neglect his repeated Instances and Calls for a continu'd Neglect is a Contempt and a Contempt of the Holy Ghost is that Basphemy which pronounces Sentence upon it self the fatal Recede à nobis Depart from us for ever Yes hard-hearted Sinner cruel to thy self and to thy God God will obey the Voice of Man who would never hearken to the Voice of God he will depart from thee for ever For the Scripture often warns us that there is a certain number of Sins which fill'd up chase him away irrevocably that there is a certain number of Calls which being rejected You shall call says he and I will not hear and there is a certain number of Graces summ'd up and recorded by the Hand of Justice after which no more are given or at least so imperfect and weak as they leave the Soul in a moral impossibility to break her Chains or shake off her evil Habits Perhaps this is the last Opportunity shall ever be presented you perhaps this is the last time you shall ever hear the Holy Ghost speaking to your Hearts the last and peremptory Term of Grace beyond which it shall never be extended and on acceptance of which depends your eternal Predestination or Reprobation Perhaps this is your last Pentecost and remember you are warn'd that he who appear'd to day in the shape of Fiery Tongues to express how ardently he desires your Conversion will one day appear in that terrifying Posture the Prophets beheld him when a flaming Sword issu'd from his Mouth Death and Destruction walked before him a Torrent of Fire stream'd from his enrag'd Countenance and flaming Eyes to consume his Enemies 2. But above all you that have already receiv'd the Holy Ghost Nolite contristare do not grieve him do not extinguish those Divine Flames he has rais'd in your Hearts Consider what a Happiness it is to be his Temple give him not the displeasure to see himself chas'd from that Place whence his Access had chas'd so many evil and tyrannical Spirits and where he desires to dwell in this Life by his Grace that we may dwell for ever in his Glory Which I beseech c. FINIS