Evil or by the Remedy The Soul hath no less weak nesses and miseries than the Body You see her one day deceived by Hope and on the morrow troubled with Fear Anger transports her Sadness dejects her Joy dissipates her Envy gnaws her and nothing contents her One Passion follows another and sometimes for one that is destroy'd there spring up a thousand The sacred Scripture compares this agitation to the dreadful Tempests which are raised upon the Waters Isa 57 20. Who can then says the Prophet number all the Waves of the Sea Nevertheless 't is yet a harder task to count the desires of Man who goes astray in the errour of his Heart Jacob. v. 6. He will and he will not at the same time the same things He seeks with impatience what he hath not and he is presently disgusted with what he possesses Vice is followed with remorse Virtue is accompanied with pains he knows not to which of the two he should apply himself His first motion inclines him to Good and yet he doth the Evil by reflexion at the same time when he condemns it The Apostle St. Paul says Rom. 7.18 I find in my self a Will to do Good but I find not the means to accomplish it For I do not the Good to which I have a will and I do the Evil which I would not There is nothing good in Man He is submitted both together to the Law of God according to the Spirit and to the Law of Sin according to the Flesh God and the World draw him by turns He is a Compound of all that which is most motley in Nature always and in every thing unlike to himself His manners his opinions his desires all his actions all his thoughts are in a continuall instability Finally one may sooner stop the course of the Winds and the rapidity of a Torrent than fix his inconstancy by the sole force of Reason Thus the more our Soul examins her self the less she knows her self Who am I for example I who make so many reflections upon others What is the Beginner that stirs all the parts of my Body By what means do they come to know the orders of my Will How can they execute them with so much readiness But this will what makes it spring up in me Whence proceeds this intelligence which guides it these lights which clear it these darknesses which sometimes encompass it It walks upon the wings of the winds upon the points of the Waves it penetrates the highest Heavens it descends into the center of the Earth it carries its curiosity into every corner and yet the most common and the most sensible objects hide themselves from its knowledge in a word it knows not what it self is Man thinks and he knows not what it is to think he reasons and he cannot say what reason is The Soul is united to the Body and she conceives not how she is united to it she enters not there and she goes not from thence when she pleases the matter which she animates serves her for a Prison and by an inclination opposit to her nature she loves this Prison which keeps her captive The Senses which should be in all things subject unto her revolt incessantly against her deceive her and corrupt her 'T is an assembly of qualities which are mortal and immortal which are corruptible and incorruptible Water is not so contrary to Fire as these Qualities are contrary among themselves yet all agree together in one and the same subject notwithstanding that 't is impossible to say either what makes their mutual intelligence or what breaks it One cannot number all the kinds of Diseases which may separate the Soul from the Body and yet the Soul acts as if nothing were able to separate her from it She heaps up designs upon designs hopes upon hopes and there needs no more than a blast to overturn all O Man thou confused Pile of uncertainties and of miseries Eccles. 7 and 8. learn not to pry into that which is above thee since thou knowest not thy own self since thou art ignorant of that which is proper to thy self during thy Life and in this little number of days design'd for thy Pilgrimage upon Earth which pass as the shadow of a smoak 'T is the Wisest among men who hath said No one knows how he is to finish his course And even as the Fishes are caught by the hook of the Fisher and Birds are taken in the Nets of the Fowler so Men fall into the ambushes of Death when they least dream of it What is Man O my God that he should by you be so highly honoured Why do you east your eyes and employ your thoughts upon a Vessel so feeble and so full of iniquity Job 7.19 You visit him in the Morning and presently you exercise him by strong Tryalls He hath scarcely begun to see the day light before he falls into Darkness Psal 15. His Body is but a heap of dust and his Life fleets away as the Grass it blooms in Morning like the Flowers of the Field and in the Evening the smallest blast of wind withers it it dwindles away and there remains no track of the place where it but now flourished It seems as if after you had formed man you had abandon'd him to his own conduct Eceli 15. You have set before his eyes the Water and the Fire Life and Death Good and Evil to the end you might leave him the liberty of choyce which is almost always unlucky to him There are none who have understanding Psal 13. and light There are none who seek God They are gon astray from the right path They are all corrupted There is not any one who of himself doth good no there is not one Lord why do you leave them to be a prey to their Passions and to the hardness and malignity of their own Heart Know you not that our fall is inevitable as soon as you withdraw your hand from holding us up Do not then estrange your self from us O Lord you who are our only prop and our strength Draw us out of the mire of the World that we may not sink down and be drown'd in it Deliver us from those worldlings who have made choyce of this present Life for their portion S. Gregory Overwhelm them with an abundance of your riches and of your treasures wherewith they may satiate their cupidity But as for us who have placed our treasure in Heaven our Heart is where our Treasure is Grant then O my God that we may perfectly renounce all the goods of the Earth and that we may surmount all the miseries of our Nature 2 Cor. 4. Grant that we may carry evermore in our Body the death of our Lord Jesus to the end that the Life of Jesus may appear also in our Body For we who live for him are every hour deliver'd up to Death for him that we may live
eternally in his Glory S. Climacus Article XXXVI St. John Climacus distinguishes the desires of Death which the Devil suggests unto us from those which Grace inspires and of this Doctrine he composes one degree of his holy Ladder Degree 6. n. 4. where he shews That the Meditation of Death is the most profitable of all Spiritual practises AS all apprehensions of Death are not criminal Degree 8. n. 3. 4. Ibid. 8. so all the desires of Death are not always lawfull According to Nature Man dreads to die and Christ Jesus himself was apprehensive of it to make it clearly appear to men that he had taken upon him all the weaknesses of humanity and that there were two Natures united in his Person If God had not given to the Soul this natural adhesion for her Body she would not remain there shut up one instant This adhesion is therefore an order of Providence and not a disorder of Sin But to know whether the Desires or Fears of Death are criminal or commendable we must examine the reasons which move us to dread it or to desire it There are some who by a motive of Despair desire to die when they find themselves oppress'd with sickness or with affliction and these are very faulty in not receiving these chastisements from the hand of God with patience and humility Others after they have imbraced a Penitent Life are discouraged and grow weary of suffering for the expiation of their Sins and these surely are very unhappy for they lose the fruit of all the good works which they have formerly performed They have kept their Lamps along time lighted and they let them go out at the hour perhaps in which the Bridegroom is ready to come Others there are who being puffed up with a vain presumption imagin that they are arrived at the soverein peace of Soul and have gotten a comâ—eat victory over all their Passions because they have no longer any fear of Death They perceive not that this Pride is a thousand times worse than the fear of Death and that the malice of our invisible Enemies is so great 7. Degree n. 68. that they convert the seeds of Virtues into Vices Some others more conformable to the Spirit of Christianism seeing that the violence of their evil Customs makes them to relapse incessantly into Sin desire Death with thoughts of repentance and of humility These sentiments are laudable 22. Degree n. 25. and yet they are but the beginning of Christian perfection One arrives at this perfection when being dead to all the affections of the World to the World it self 6. Degree n. 20. and to Sin one desires to die upon no other motive than only to be entirely united to Christ Jesus 'T is by this mark that one may know the difference between the natural apprehensions of Death 6. Degree n. 6. and the fear which proceeds not from the feeling of Nature between the Impatience which comes from Despair and the desire which the hope of a better Life produces For he who hath not renounced all created things and his own will 6. Degree n. 20. and 11. betrays himself and is like to a Soldier who should present himself with his hands tyed in the day of Battle They who during their Lifetime have their Heart and Spirit link'd to Heaven 26. Degree n. 106. mount up to Heaven after their Death But they who have had their Soul link'd to the Earth descend under the Earth 26. Degree n. 377. The goods and the honours of the World are as so many rotten steps of a Ladder upon which the humble man cannot set his foot without puting himself in danger to lose his Humility He who voluntarily resigns himself to Death and who expects it without fear 6. Degree n. 12. hath some Vertue But he who at every hour desires it may pass for a Saint We cannot live holily one sole day if we do not desire that it may be the last day of our Life rather than to offend God in it The continual thought of Death extinguishes at last all Vices And as a perfect Charity renders a man exempt from falling into Sin so a perfect Meditation of Death renders him uncapable to fear any thing but the Judgements of God Ib. n. 14. And surely there is reason to admire that the Pagans themselves have said something not unlike unto this when they declared That Phylosophy or the love of Wisdom is nothing else but a continual study of Death Article XXXVII St. Bernard teaches us That Hope is the portion of true Christians and that this Virtue enables them to suffer patiently all the evills of this Life and to Love and Desire Death THe Children of darkness sleep in the night season Ser. 6. in Ps 90. alibi but as for us my Brethren who are Children of light let us watch in expectation of the days coming in which we are to sleep the sleep of Death S. Bernard Let us arm our selves with a holy Hope to fight against this drowsiness of the World Let Sensualists shut their eyes against the beams of this Hope and let them repose in the wantonness of a voluptuous Life Let them say we are in peace and in security who can discover us what can trouble the enjoyment of our pleasures The day will come when they shall be overwhelm'd with an un-foreseen ruine as a Woman is surprized by the pangs of Childing How terrible are your judgments how incomprehensible are your words â—ap 17. O Lord Whilst the Wicked insult over the holy Nation of your Elect and flatter themselves that they shall always domineer a stroke of your hand lays these fugitive slaves in the dust who fancied they could steal themselves from your eternal Justice They who were seen to triumph over your Patience are all enwrap'd in the shadows of a long and dismall night as many Criminalls are fast linked together with one and the same Chain As for us O my God! who have no share in their Sleep nor in their Blindness we lift up our Eyes incessantly towards Heaven from whence we expect our help You O Lord Psal 15. are our good and all our portion This part which is fallen to our Lot is rich and delicious Our hereditary share is of an incomparable excellency S. Ber. 'T is for this that our Heart rejoyceth and that we sing with alacrity because you will not leave the Soul of the Just in Hell nor will you suffer him whom you have made holy to see corruption Thus O Lord the inheritance of the Children of Jacob is more worth than the riches of the Children of Esau for when they should possess the whole Earth when the Goods which the World promises them should be great the possession thereof is not peaceable the duration is but short the end is uncertain and the loss of them is follow'd with an infinite number of miseries
people by their proper Interest ought to desire to depart out of the World YOu complain that Truth is trampled on by the tricks of Lying and Falshood Lib. 22. de Civ c. 30. You say O Christians that they who make profession to be the Masters or the Disciples of Truth do basely abandon it Ser. 64. de Verbis Domini and that its beauty which is altogether Divine cannot fix the inconstancy of its Lovers Why then do you not aspire to Heaven Ser. 6. inter Communes where Truth glittering with all its beams triumphs over falshood and malice and frees them who love it In Psalm passim and frees them who love it from all injustice and violence You declame against the iniquity of men who neither regard desert nor virtue who bestow Offices upon birth or favour and who sleight the good people without confering on them any reward Why then do you not aspire after the glory of the Blessed in Heaven where happiness corresponds to the pains they have indured where Crowns are proportioned to the Combats they have fought and finally where rewards follow the good Works they have performed and where the most holy are most honoured Kings cannot exercise their magnificence and their Liberalitie which are their most shining virtues without being very often deceived by outwards apparences As they know not the true spirit of their Subjects they cannot discern their true deserts They frequently favour Vice when they intend to render Justice to Virtue But the God whom we adore cannot be deceived He reads in the Heart of them who serve him He discerns all our actions and as he beholds all the motions of our Will he also lets not impietie pass without punishment nor Virtue without reward You complain of the hardness of your condition you murmure for that you must always fight you grieve to be incessantly encompassed with enemies you bear them about you you nourish them within your selves and you are the theater of this intestine War where the Flesh is continually at strife with the spirit On which ever side the victory falls you cannot rejoyce without being afflicted at the same time for some loss Leave then this wretched dwelling where Life is a continual temptation and a perpetual combat Desire Death which will be the end of all these miseries Sight after that agreable habitation where the Saints enjoy a perfect victory and a peace without molestation Do not any longer complain that in despight of all the care you take to bring one part of your self to agree with the other part yet their differences are dayly renewed Or if you will complain let this your complaint serve at least to make you march more speedily towards that place of peace where you shall agree with your self and be in a perpetual repose Finally you love Life but you would not have it to be made up of miseries and of sorrows Shall God make Life for you after another manner than it was for his own Son To come to that Life which you demand you must be gon out of this Christ Jesus himself hath shew'd us that we must acquire it at that rate Why seek you not that dwelling where the Life which you desire hath his habitation From the first moment in which you shall possess Heaven you will no longer fear either poverty or misery or disease or death Why then do you not that for the enjoyment of so happy a Life which you do for the prolonging of this other unfortunate Life You abstain from Meats and from Divertisements which are hurtfull to your health Why do you not as much for that Life which will never be troubled with any sicknesses And yet the solicitudes you have to preserve your Body will not warrant it from Death All that you can pretend to is to die a little later Ah! my dear Brethren can it be possible that you should do less to live eternally No I cannot believe it and you will testifie without doubt by your actions by your sufferings and by the Holy Desires of Death that you have a Faith and Hope for another Life What would you give to be exempt from all incommodities and to be assured to live always Is it not true that all whatever you possess would not suffice to purchase so great a good altho' you were Lord even of the whole Universe Yet this so great and excellent a good is to be sold You may buy it if you will the price ought not to affright you it will not exceed your abilities you shall pay no more for it then what you are able to give you may purchase it by an Alms you may acquire it by some other good Works you may deserve it by a good desire finally you may obtain it by a penitential Life and by a holy Death Do not then despise a happiness which depends only on the will to possess it And if you have any spark of zeal left in you to promote your true Interest and to procure your own Salvation seek a dwelling where Truth is victorious where Sanctity is honoured where Peace is immutable where Life and Felicity are Eternal Approbation SInce the Death of the Just gives us the liberty to render to their memory what we ow them we may say that the Reverend Father Lalemant Prior of St. Genovefe and Chancellour of the University of Paris having studied and endeavoured by the meditation and the practise of such Truths as the Spirit of God â—nspired into the greatest men of the Church to make Death familiar unto him this Collection of the most pithy thoughts which the holy Fathers had concerning Death is one of the most considerable Monuments which remains â—o us of his sublime virtue It were â—o be wished that every one would follow the example of this great person in reading his Works and that they would learn to die Christianly by seeing how he prepared himself thereto The esteem which people most elevated by their condition and their deserts had of his Piety and his extraordinary Qualities did not at all lessen the contempt he had of Life and the desire of Death which always appeared in him according to the example of the Apostle Thus hiâ— memory shall be evermore in veneration to all them who will reaâ— this excellent Work 'T is thâ— judgment which I gave at Soâ—bon the first of March 1673. Signed Colbert FINIS