enjoy not this quality but after we are instated in the person of the Word nor can we have God for our Father but we must have Jesus Christ for our Head But when Grace hath made us his members Unicum Filium Deus habet quem de sua substantia genuit nos autem non de sua substantia genuit Creatura enim sumus quam non genuit sed fecit ideo ut fratres Christi secundùm modum faceret adoptavit Aug. lib. 3. contra Faust cap. 3. and being quickned by his Spirit we make up one body with him the Father loves us as his children looks upon us as a portion of Jesus Christ contracts an allyance with us that honours us and imitates that which he hath from all Eternity with his Son Thus we are his sons and his subjects he is our Lord and our Father and we bespeak him in the same language our Head doth we call him our Father and our God This Allyance is not only true because founded in Grace Vinculum igitur nostrae cum Deo Patre unionis Christum esse constat qui nos quidem sibi conjunxit ut homo Deo verò genitori suo sic unitus est ut naturaliter in eo sit Cyril Alex in Joan. but so proper that it relates only to the person of the Son agreeing not so much as to the holy Spirit For as he is not the Father of Jesus Christ so neither is he ours and as he hath other Alliances with him so hath he also with us The Father alone is our Father 't is to him that we addresse our selves when we use that name and knowing very well that we are inseparable from his Son we know very wel that the affection he bears us is an overflowing beam of that love he bears him of whom we have the honour to be members Though this mystery be wonderfull and 't is a hard matter to comprehend upon what motive Jesus Christ was willing to procure us this honour yet the condition wherein he found us redoubles the wonder For Adoption hath this advantage above Nature that 't is in its liberty to chuse the most accomplish'd Nature is blinde in her affections as well as in her productions she knows not for the most part what she does her works are many times defective and as if she had lost her light together with her innocence she brings forth Monsters as often as Men In the mean time she forbears not to love her imperfections she hath the heart of a Mother for all her productions and compels parents many times to embrace Monsters because they are their children In this particular Adoption is much happier then Nature it sees what it admits of chuseth upon knowledge of the cause loves that which is lovely and amiable nor does impart affections or goods but to persons that merit them Neverthelesse contrary to all these rules we finde that the Eternal Father adopts children born in sin and having nothing but the Apennage of Adam are rather the objects of his wrath then of his love He goes to seek them in the masse of perdition he separates them from the Guilty to render them innocent and applyes to them the merits of his Son to make them worthy of his inheritance For of all the Favours saith St * Promisit hominibus divinitatem mortalibus immortalitatem peccatoribus justificationem abject is glorificationem quicquid promisit indignis promisit ut non quasi operibus merces promitteretur sed gratia nomine suo gratia gratis daretur Aug. Psal 102. Augustine God the Father was pleased to honour us with he hath continually prevented our deservings he pardoned us in our delinquency heaped honour upon us in our misery To wretches condemned to death he hath promised immortality to the guilty innocence to base contemptible creatures glory to men divinity that we may receive all these favours as the gracious endearments of his mercy and not the recompences of our merits Thus our Adoption is founded upon his goodness he chose us but because it was his good pleasure he hath made us his Children because Christ hath made us his Brethren and in the apprehension of so great an advantage all we have to do is to humble our selves at the sight of our miseries and to give him thanks at the consideration of his mercies But to the end that this grace may appear more precious we must reckon up its Priviledges and allow the rest of this Discourse to its more noble Excellencies The Adoption of men is indeed an Allyance but we may without offence call it an imaginary one it hath no other foundation but the affection of him that adopts and the true or apparant merit of him that is adopted the conjunction is so impotent that it produceth nothing reall in their minds 't is as we have observed a meer denomination constituting no true relation between the two persons it unites and in this particular we must needs confess 't is much weaker then Nature For this tyes men with flesh and bloud her chains are so strong that 't is almost impossible to break them The Father looks upon his Son as a piece of himself the Mother beholds him as a portion of her own bowels nor can the Son die but both of them die in conceit with him Adoption hath nothing of this vigour in it it leans upon interests and as soon as he that is adopted hath no more any hope he hath no more love nor respect But the Christian Adoption is like that of Nature the links that compose it are of Diamond Missus est Filius non adoptione factus sed semper genitus Filius ut participata natura filiorum hominum ad participandam ettam suam naturam adoptaret etiam filios hominum Aug. lib. de Gra. Novi Test and the Grace that supports it is so firm that 't is able to subsift eternally It penetrates the very essence of the soul and cleanseth it from the spots of sin darts a light into the understanding heat into the Will plants the seeds of Glory in that intellectual substance gives it a true right and title to the kingdom of heaven and constitutes an Allyance between man and God so strict and combining that it imitates that that is between the Humanity and the Divinity by the mystery of the Incarnation From the very instant of Baptism the Christian is truly the Son of God the misery of his Nature the shame of his Birth and the Crime of his first Father hinders not Jesus Christ from being his Brother the Church from being his Mother nor eternal glory from being his portion But I wonder not at all that the Adoption of Christians is more substantial then that of men since it is celebrated with greater pomp and ceremony For when a man intends to adopt a child he needs only declare his will and make use of the Princes authority to make his
did not the following surpass it For the Holy Spirit is the Love of the Faithful as he is the Love of the Father and of the Son But to understand this truth we must inform you that the Word being begotten of the Father by the Understanding is his onely Son and that the Holy Ghost being produced by the Will is his Love The Father and the Son reciprocally love one another by this mutual charity they finde their happiness in this common dilection and should they cease to love they would cease to be happie Having a minde to exalt us to their happiness they raise us also to their love and pouring forth charity into our souls they make us capable of loving them For God is so great that he can neither be known but by his own Light nor lov'd but by his own Love the Holy Spirit must enlighten our Souls warm our Wills and by the purity of his flames purge away the impurity of our affections he transforms us into himself to make us happie This holy Love is a particular effect of the Holy Spirit the beams that heat us are an emanation from that Divine fire that burns the Seraphims and the charity that raiseth us above the condition of men is a spark of that personal charity wherewith the Father and the Son love each other from all eternity But that we may not challenge the Holy Spirit as sparing of his favours he hath vouchsafed to be the accomplishment of the Church as he is the accomplishment and perfection of the Trinity For though there be no defects in God though this Sun is never clouded nor eclipsed this Supreme Truth labours under no shadows nor errours this excellent Beauty hath no spots nor blemishes and this amiable goodness be full of charms and graces yet may the Holy Ghost be called the Complement thereof The Father begins this adorable Circle which the Son continues and the Holy Spirit finisheth he it is that bounds the Divine emanations draws forth the fruitfulness of those that cause his production and if it be lawful to speak of an ineffable mystery and to subject to the laws of Time Eternity it self God is not compleated but by the production of the holy Spirit He is the rest of the Father and the Son his person is the perfection of the Trinity and this Divine mystery would want its full proportion did it not include the Holy Spirit with the two Persons from whence he proceeded The holy Scriptures to afford us some light of this verity attribute all the perfection of the works of God to the blessed Spirit They represent him to us moving upon the waters in the Creation of the world finishing by his Fecundity what the Father and the Son had produced by their Power They teach us that it was he that gave motion to the Heavens influences to the Stars heat to the Sun They inform us that 't was by his vertue that the earth became fruitful and that from his goodness she received that secret Fermentation that to this day renders her the Mother and the Nurse of all things living And the Gospel to give this Truth its full extent instructs us that 't is the holy Ghost who by his graces in the Church makes up what Jesus Christ hath begun in it by his travels He is his Vicar and Lieutenant he came down upon the earth after the other ascended up to heaven nor hath he any other designe in his descension then to compleat all the works of Jesus Christ The Apostles were yet but embryo's in Christianity when the Son of God left them three yeers of conversation was not able to perfect them the greatest part of the discourses of their Divine Master seemed to them nothing but Aenigma's his Maximes Paradoxes his Promises pleasing Illusions every thing was a mormo to these timorous spirits ths name of the Cross scandalized them and so many Miracles wrought in their presence were unable to calm their Fear or heighten their Courage To finish these demi-works the Holy Ghost came into the world he descended upon their heads in the shape of fiery tongues to make them eloquent and bold he inspired them with Charity to cure them of Fear made them Lovers thereby to make them Martyrs he cleared their Understanding warmed their Will that light and heat being blended together they might more easily overcome Philosophers and Tyrants Finally he set up a Throne in their hearts that speaking by their mouthes and acting by their hands he might render them accomplisht pieces to the service of their Master And indeed we must acknowledge the Apostles changed their condition after the descent of the Holy Ghost their Fear vanished as soon as they were confirmed by his Strength the Cross seem'd strew'd with Charms as soon as they were kindled with his Flames they found Sweetness even in Torments Glory in Affronts Venit Vicarius Redemptoris ut beneficia quae Salvator Dominus inchoavit Spiritus sancti virtute consammet quod ille redemit iste sanctificet quod ille acquisivit iste custodiat Aug. Serm. 1. Feria 32. Pentec and Riches in Poverty This made S. Augustine say that the Holy Spirit came to finish in Power what the Son of God had begun in Weakness to sanctifie what the other had redeemed and to preserve what Christ had purchased If you seek saith the same S. Augustine what was wanting to the Apostles and what might be added to their perfection by the coming down of the Holy Ghost I will tell you Before that happie moment they had Faith but they had neither Constancie nor Fidelity they were able to forsake their possessions to follow Jesus Christ but they would not lose their lives to glorifie him they were able indeed to preach the Gospel but knew not how to signe it with their blood nor seal it with their death they were vertuous as long as they conversed with the Son of God up on earth but they were not grown up to perfection till the Holy Ghost had communicated to them his graces and adding force to charity had made them the Foundations of the Church the Fathers of the Faithful the Terrour of Devils and the Astonishment of Tyrants Finally 't is the holy Spirit according to the saying of S. John Damascen that perfects the Christians because 't is he that Quickens them by Grace and Deifies them with Glory So that we are obliged to confess that he enters into alliance with them that he is the same to the Church that he is to the Trinity and that after he hath been our Bond our Gift and our Love upon Earth he will be our Accomplishment in Heaven The Fourth DISCOURSE That the Holy Ghost seems to be to Christians what he is to the Son of God IT is not without ground that the Christian is called the Image of Jesus Christ since he is his other Self the one possessing by Grace what the other doth by
advice and hee that at first was his Principle proceeds still to be his counsellour and director The Christian enjoyes this advantage with Jesus Christ whatsoever designe he conceives whatsoever resolution he takes whatsoever enterprize he brings to passe he is alwayes bound to call upon the holy Ghost He that hath given him his Being ought to give him motion he that hath begotten him in Baptisme ought to govern him in the Church and if he will not be wanting to his obligations nor renounce his priviledges the same Spirit that inanimates him while he lives must move and lead him in all his operations This is it that S. Paul so highly magnifies when he sayes Those onely deserve to be called the children of God who are acted by the Spirit of God Qui Spiritu Dei aguntur hi sunt filii Dei Whereupon * Ergo agimur non agimus respondeo imo agis ageris tunc bene agis si à bono agaris Spiritus enim Dei qui te agit adjutor est tibi agenti ipsum nomen adjutoris praescribit tibi quia tu ipse aliquod agis sed ne te extolleret humanus spiritus ad hoc opus se idoneum jactaret ideo subjecit quotquot Spiritu Dei aguntur hi snut filii Dei Aug. Ser. 13. de verb. Apost S. Augustine preventing two contrary objections which might be made against this truth saith That Christians are not onely lead by the Spirit but driven to the end they may know that He is rather the Principle of their actions then themselves and that in the way of salvation they are rather sufferers then doers But because this answer might sooth men up in idlenesse and give them an occasion to neglect good works expecting the enthusiasmes of the Spirit he adds They are moved that they might move they receive the impression of grace that they may act and that the Apostle expresly made use of this manner of speech at once to make them shake off idlenesse and presumption From this Priviledge is derived a third not so peculiar to Christ as not to be common to Christians For the holy Spirit is their Master he instructs them both in his school and they have the glory to be his disciples as well as his workmanship The Son of God hath two schools as he hath two births the first is Eternity where his Father is his Master and where he teacheth him his learning in communicating to him his Essence There by a strange Prodigie the Master is not more knowing then the Scholar nor the Scholar junior to his Master the science is learnt in a moment but that moment endures for ever and though it have no parts it includes neverthelesse all the differences of time this science though but one comprehends in it all sorts of truth the Master hides nothing from his Scholar he instructs him at the same instant he begets him the birth of this Son to speak properly is his instruction as he is born for ever so he learns for ever and he that conceived him in his bosome is eternally his Father and his Master This Son hath in time another school and a new Master he that produceth him teacheth him and the same Principle that forms his body fashions his understanding from the very first moment of his Conception He imitates the Father that teacheth him from all eternity he instils all things into him without succession or labour and conveying light into his soul Vir erat Jesus necdum etiam natus sed sapientia non aetate animi virtute non viribus corporis Bern. he hath no need of the mediation of the senses to render him learned This Pupill discourseth before he speaks he conceives truth before he beholds the light and his understanding is inform'd of all the secrets of his Father before he could pronounce the name of his Mother His knowledge grows not up with time because it had its just proportion and measure at the very moment of his Generation Experience hath not made it more evident nor age more assured and if he pronounced no Oracles in his Infancy 't is because he had a minde to conceal his Wisdom as he had concealed his Divinity Finally this Divine Master taught him a science which Politicians seek for and cannot finde for he discovers to him the secrets of the heart the motions of the will and all those thoughts and imaginations which though they never brake forth in words nor actions cease not to render men guilty So that should Jesus Christ neither be united to the Person of the Word nor illuminated with the light of Glory he would neverthelesse have an infused knowledge whereby he would be acquainted with whatever is most secret in Nature and in Grace in Time and in Eternity The holy Scripture also teacheth us that the holy Spirit that abides not alwayes in others rests upon Jesus Christ Requievit super eum Spiritus Domini Isa and he that distributes his Graces to others by measure communicates them to his Masterpeece without weight or limitation But this is no hinderance from his being the Master also of all other Christians from teaching them the science of salvation discovering to them the mysteries of Theologie the secrets of Nature and the maximes of the Politikes In effect 't is the holy Spirit that made the Apostles learned that spake with their mouthes that confounded Emperours and Philosophers with their answers and made them understand those Oracles which were nothing but Riddles to them whilest Jesus Christ conversed with them upon the earth 'T is lastly the selfe same Spirit which to this day teacheth the faithfull what they are to beleeve in Religion what they are to do or leave undone in the practice of their life and what they ought to hope or fear after death He cannot deceive them because he is the Spirit of Truth he cannot engage them in evill because he is the Spirit of Holinesse neither can he suffer them to wander in Errour or languish in infirmities because he is the Spirit of Counsell and of Strength Therefore is he the Master whom the faithfull consult with in their occasions 't is in his Schoole that they commence in vertue 't is under his Conduct that they grow up to perfection and by his advice that they defend themselves against errour and falshood Vbi Deus Magister quam cito discitur quod docetur Leo Serm. 1. de Pente Though this Science be so deep yet is it learnt in a moment his Disciples become Masters without paines Truth distils into their understandings without passing through their eyes or eares sleeping and waking they are equally capable of attention and this Doctor is so dextrously exact that bestowing the Spirit upon his scholars he repaires by Grace the defects of Nature But to conclude all these resemblances we affirm that the holy Spirit is the witnesse of Jesus Christ and of
respect towards him he puts on rather the deportment of a Lover then of a Soveraign he gains his will without forcing it and though he knows the secret whereby to be obeyed 't is always with so much sweetness that he that suffers himself to be overcome hath reason to believe he gets the Victory Therefore doth the Scripture never speak of this Change but as of a work common to God with Man And when Saint Augustine observes the differences between Conversion and Creation he bears witness to this truth in these words Qui creavit te sine te non salvabit te sine te But not to enter into Disputes more Curious then Profitable Si conversio peccatoris non est majoris potentiae quà m creatio universi saltem est majoris miscricordiae Aug. let us be content to conclude with the same Saint Augustine that if the Conversion of a sinner require not more Power it supposeth at least more Mercy then Creation because if in This God obligeth the Miserable in That he obligeth the Criminal shewing Favour to those that could expect nothing but severity of Punishments Therefore is it that the Conversion of a sinner belongs to the Holy Spirit and a work that bears the Character of Goodness must needs have no other Principle but he to whom this Divine Perfection is attributed in the Scripture 'T is true that after he hath shewed mercy to sinners he performs a piece of most exemplary Justice and animating them against themselves he obliges them to take revenge and punishment upon themselves For one of the most admirable effects of the Spirit of Love is to produce hatred in the spirit of Penitents Quia ergo non potest esse confessio punitio peccati in homine à seipso cum quisque sibi irascitur sibi displicet sine dono Spiritûs sancti non est Aug. in Psal 50. and to satisfie the Majestie of God by the excess of their Austerities towards themselves They look upon themselves as guilty of Treason against the Divine Majestie they stay not till his Justice punish them they prevent his Sentence by their own Resolutions and invent more tortures to wrack themselves then the Executioners have been witty in to torment Martyrs with This is that Divine Spirit which hath driven the Anchorites into the desarts made the Antonines go down into caves and holes of the earth made the Stilites fix upon the top of Pillars which found out sackcloth and discipline to make as many Wretches as he had made Penitents All the Austerity that is in Christianity takes its birth from the love he inspires into the Faithful Their Rigour is proportionable to their Charity the more the holy Spirit possesseth them the more are they set against Themselves and we may affirm with reason that as much as they grow in his Love so much do they grow in the Hatred of their Sin This is it perhaps that our Saviour would have us understand when he told us that the holy Spirit should judge the world and should oblige sinners to punish themselves for the offences they have committed He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement We cannot understand this Truth if we conceive not that the Father hath judged all men in his Son and having charged him with their iniquities hath charged him also with the punishments due for them From this moment they have no engagements to sue out with the Father and the Father satisfied with the Passion of his Son protests that he hath signed over to him all the right of judging the world The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son The Son by vertue of this resignation shall judge all men at the end of the world and being become their Judg and their Partie will pronounce the definitive sentence of their Eternity In expectation of this day of Doom the holy Spirit judgeth men that are converted and mixing meekness with severity in these determinations he obliges them to undergo a scrutiny upon earth to be delivered from the torments of hell Nor are we to think it strange that he that is so gentle is withall so rigorous since the Poets have bestowed these two qualities upon Love For these pleasant Tel-tales have feigned that he was the severest of all the Gods that he bathed himself in tears lived upon blood and more cruel then Tyrants took pleasure in the torments of his subjects But Christian Religion that conceals Truth under the shadow of our Mysteries teacheth us that the love of God is severe that he exacts chastisements from those he inanimates that he engageth his Lovers in penance and more strong then death which parts soul and body he divides between the soul and the spirit and exerciseth a Tyranny over whole entire man True it is the torments he inflicts are always mix'd with pleasures he makes Roses grow among Thorns and amidst such a throng of Penitents that bid him battel there is not one complains of his sufferings 'T is enough that persecuting themselves Haec tristitia quae poenitcutiam ad salutem stabilem operatur laeta est ac spe profectus sui vegetata cunctam affabilitatis retinet suavitatem Cassian l. 9. c. 11. they are perswaded they satisfie him whom they have offended the same consideration that afflicts them comforts them and when they meditate that God that loves them is infinite they meet with no pain that is not short nor any torment that is not joyous They are better accompanied in the Desarts then the Monarchs in their Palaces their humiliations are more glorious then the Triumphs of Conquerors their poverty is more happy then abundance of riches and their ascetick life more full of charms then the pleasures of the world Though the holy Spirit be thus favourable to Penitents yet fails he not to be very severe against sinners if he pardon the offences committed against the Father and the Son he never pardons those that are committed against his own Person and the holy Scriptures teach us Blasphemia in Spiritum sanctum non remittetur in hoc seculo nec in futuro Mat. 12. that of all the sins in the world none are irremissible but those which do despite to the Holy Ghost This passage leaves all our Expositors at a losse every one forgeth new Principles to resolve the difficulties thereof and there are few but strive to invent something upon a subject so often handled and so little cleared Some divide sins into three Orders according to the perfections which are commonly applyed to the three Divine Persons The first comprehends sins of infirmity which seem to clash against the Person of the Father Peccata alia sunt infirmitatis quae Patri cujus est potentia adversantur alia ignorantiae quae Filio cujus est sapientia alia malitiae quae Spiritui sancto cujus est bonitas D. Thom. in Paulum to whom power
Fourth DISCOURSE That the Vnion of Christians with their Head is an Imitation of the Hypostaticall Vnion CHristian Religion acknowledgeth three wonderfull Unities which exercise her Faith enflame her Love and entertain her Piety The first is the Unity of Essence which is found in the Trinity For the same Faith that â—eacheth us there are three Persons in one God teacheth us also that he subsists in one and the same Essence and that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one God This Truth soares so high above Humane Understanding that it cannot be conceived otherwise then by the light of Faith Reason would deceive should she be consulted with in this mystery Man would not be more faithfull Considera quod voceris fidelis non rationalis si dicas hoc non est exponcre sed expositione fugere respondeo in die judicii non damnor quia dicam nescivi naturam Dei mei si aâ—tem aliquid temere dixero temeritas poenam habas ignorantia veuiam meretur Aug. Ser. 1. de Trinitate should he labour to be more rationall in this subject and hee will fall into the Heresie of the Arrians or into that of the Sabellians did he not subject his Reason to his Faith The second is the Unity of Person in Iesus Christ which honours the Unity of Essence in the Trinity though it be in some sort opposite thereto For as there are three Persons in God which preserve their differences in the Unity of their Nature that the Trinity is neither confounded by the Unity Decuit cum summa quâ— in Deo est unitate congruere ut quomo o ibi tres personae una essentia it a hic convenientissima quadam contrarietate tres essentiae fint una persona Bern. lib. 5. de Consider cap. 9. nor the Unity divided by the Trinity There are three Natures in Jesus Christ that subsist in one and the same Person and which without losing their proprieties make one composition which is called God-Man There by a strange prodigie Flesh and Spirit agree with Divinity neither are the two Others swallowed up in This Each Nature preserves its rights and as the soul is not debas'd by being engaged in the Flesh the Divinity is not disparaged by being associated to both This shines forth by Miracles the Other Two are obscured by Injuries In a word the Son of God never loseth his Equality with his Father nor the Son of Man his Equality with his Mother The third Unity is that of the Body which is found between Christ and his Church for though there be so much difference between these two Persons Love hath combined them so neer together that not confounding their properties he hath made there of but one Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and the Faithful the Members They live of one and the same Spirit their Interests are common though one raign triumphantly in heaven the other suffer miserably upon earth they fail not to be so perfectly knit together that the Body is happie in the Head and the Head is afflicted in the Members Of these Three admirable Unities the Second adores the First and the Third the Second For the principal designe of the Word in his Incarnation is to honour the Trinity of the Divine Persons by the Trinity of his Natures and to pay homage to the Unity of the Divine Essence by the Unity of his Person This Divine Compound is an Image of the Trinity it declares the wonders thereof by its constitution neither did he take pleasure to unite the Flesh and the Spirit with the Divinity but to express to the Faithful the ineffable Unity between the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit in the difference of their personal proprieties Indeed this incomprehensible Mystery was not preached among the children of men till the Word became Incarnate and their Understanding clarified with the light of Faith began not to conceive the Trinity of the Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence till it conceived the Trinity of the Natures in the Unity of the Person of the Word Finally the Third Unity renders honour to the Second seeing Jesus Christ entred not into society with his Church but in pursuance of the affinity he had contracted with Humane Nature It seems he was willing to extend the mystery of the Incarnation in that he made all men his Members to make them the children of God and not being able or not vouchsafing to unite himself personally with every Christian he became united to them in the unity of the Spirit and of the Body The First of these Marriages is the example of the Second and we cannot well express the Union of Jesus Christ with his Church but by that of the Word with our Nature The Resemblances are so wonderful that they justly deserve this Discourse to see if we can clear them The chiefest secret of this mystery is that the Plurality of Nature destroys not the Unity of the Person Verbum caro factum unus est Christus ubi nihil est alterius naturaeâ—quod sit utriusque D. Leo. Serm. 10. de nat Dom. For though the Flesh have its weaknesses and the Divinity its perfections in Jesus Christ 't is nevertheless an admirable Compound that preserves its unity in the difference of its Natures he acts sometimes as God sometimes as Man receives the adorations of Angels and the injuries of Men that obeys his Father and commands with him suffers upon the Cross and reigns in Glory that 's buried with the dead in the Grave and triumphs over the devil in hell But in these different conditions he ceaseth not to be one and the same subject who accommodating himself to the proprieties of his Natures mixes Greatness with Humility Joy with Sorrow Repentance with Innocence without interessing his Person The same wonder is met with in the Marriage of Christ with his Church they are different in their qualities and 't is a strange effect of Love that was able to finde out a means to unite together two subjects whose conditions are so dissonant The one is Soveraign because God the other a slave because redeemed the one innocent the other guilty the one reigns in Eternity the other sighs and groans in Time nevertheless their Union is so strict that without confounding their properties they compose one and the same Body and both together make up but one onely Jesus Christ Whence it comes to pass that S. Augustine who after S. Paul hath best understood this Mystery Totus Christus secundum Ecclesiam caput corpus est non quia sinc corpore non est integer sed quia nobiscuÌ„ integer esse dignatus est qui sine nobis semper est integer Veruntamen fratres quomodo corpus ejus nos si non nobiscum unum Christus Aug. in Serm. Quod tribusmodis Christus intelligitur delivers these words One onely Jesus Christ is the Body and
infected with the contagion of that and that sin tracing grace prevents the will making it criminall before it be free The only thing that may seem strange to us in this Oeconomy is That a Baptized person does not communicate Christian grace to his children though he be possessed of it and yet doth communicate originall sin though he be freed from it Miraris quare peccator nascatur de semine Justi non te delectat mirari quare oleaster nascatur de semine olivae Accipe aliam similitudinem non attendis quia de grano purgato frumentum cum palea nascitur sine qua seminatur Aug. Serm. de Verb. Apos 14. But our wonder will cease if we consider that a grain of corn which is sown without chaffe springs up notwithstanding with it and on the other side a learned man derives not his sciences to his children though he doe his being Ideo de baptizato non justus nascitur quia non eum generat unde regeneratus est sed unde generatus est Id. ib. And because as Saint Augustine observes Christians beget not their children by the Spirit which is sanctified but by the body which still remains corrupted neither is Grace the concomitant of the Birth of Adam but of the regeneration of Jesus Christ who absolves not the guilty till they are cloathed with his merits in Baptisme The Fifth DISCOURSE Of the Resemblances that are found between the Birth of Christ and that of a Christian AS the Christian takes his denomination of Christ so also doth he his Glory neither hath he any Priviledge which he is not obliged to him for If he have any merits that render him acceptable to God 't is from the * Ex sacramento unctionis Christi Christianorum descendit voeabulum et nomen quod nomen ille frustra sortitur qui Christum minime imitatur Aug. de vita Christi Actions or Sufferings of Jesus Christ that he borrows them If he pretends any right to heaven as his inheritance 't is because Christ is his elder Brother if the Angels do him any service 't is because he is a member of his Body and that this quality equals if not prefers him before these blessed Spirits If lastly his birth be holy 't is because it resembles that of the Son of God and receives in the bosom of the Church the same advantages the Son of God received in the womb of his Mother Indeed could the tongue of man recount the wonders of a Nativity that astonish'd the Prophets they might haply be reduc'd to three or four heads that render it glorious and full of lustre The First is That the Son of God was conceived by the operation of the holy Ghost He it was that managed this great Designe who curdled the most pure blood of the Virgin who form'd the Body of the Word Incarnate and becoming his principle did in a manner give him in Time what he had received from him in Eternity The Angel spake thus of it to the Virgin when for the interest of her Virginity she desired to be instructed how she might be the Mother of God Superveniet in te dando foecunditatem servando Virginitatem Bern. The holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Glory of the Highest shall over-shadow thee The Holy Ghost was the dispenser of this mystery his goodness wrought this miracle of love and he that was barren in Eternity to give Jesus Christ to the world became fruitfull in time Though this favour be admirable exalting the Son of God above Prophets and Kings yet is it common to him with Christians who have the priviledge to be born of the Holy Ghost and to enter into a new life by his grace For he it is and not an Angel that sits President in this sacred * Omni homini renascenti aqua baptismatis instar est uteri virginalis eodem Spiritu sanctorcplente fontem qui replevit et Virginē ut peccatum quod ibi vacuavit sacra conceptio hic mystica tollat ablutio Leo. pool wherein wee are regenerated he it is that stamps upon us the character that makes us Christians and sheds abroad charity into our hearts whereby we are made the children of God 'T is by his vertue that our sins are blotted out and by a secret influence that penetrateth the essence of our soul that we become the adopted sons of the Everlasting Father and the brethren of Jesus Christ The holy Scripture teacheth us this transcendent verity in common ordinary words but which in their deep sense comprehend almost an infinite number of mysteries Except a man be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost he shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven As it is he that gives us the being of Grace so he gives us a right to Glory and as he made the Virgin * Originem quā sumpsit in utero Virginis posuit in fonte baptismatis dedit aquae quod dedit Matri et obumbratio Spiritus sanctiquae fecit ut Maria parerot eadem facit ut aqua rogeneret credentem Leo Serm. de Nat. Christi fruitfull to bring forth Christ so he makes the water prolificall to regenerate the Christian 'T is the opinion of St Ambrose and of St Augustine who both conspire together to make us admire the excellent grace that we receive of the Holy Ghost in Baptism The same Grace saith the later that makes Man-God makes Man-Christian the one is re-born by the same Spirit whereof the other is born and as This is wholly exempt from all sin That is fully delivered from it Thus the Christian may boast that he hath God for his Principle that he owes his birth to the Holy Ghost and that this priviledge is common to him with the Word incarnate The Second Advantage of the Son of God in his temporall Nativity is That he had a Mother who miraculously united Fruitfulnesse with Purity for the Fruit that she bare shed not her Flower the quality of a Mother made her not lose that of a Virgin and Nature stood amazed that being so pure she was notwithstanding brought to bed The * Ecce Virgo concipiet ct parict filium Isa 7. Prophets have prepared us for the belief of this miracle by their predictions they beheld it in the secrets of Futurity and knowing very well that it was one of the greatest Priviledges of the Messias they have made it one of the fairest observations in his History The very Heathen were not ignorant of it The Sybils have proclaimed it for the rarest ornament of Virginity and there were some people who moved by their Predictions erected Altars to the * Virgini pariturae Virgin-Mother Nothing in all our Religion hath carried so much lustre with it amongst the Heathen as this glorious particular neither had they much adoe to beleeve that Jesus Christ was the Son of God seeing he was the Son of
glory and humility which ravisheth Christians and confounds Infidels These cannot comprehend that the Son of Man is the Son of God that he that is equall to the Father is his servant that he gives Orders and receives them that he commands and obeyes that he comes down upon the earth and yet never leaves heaven that he dies and still lives that he is confin'd in a Sepulcher and yet fills the whole world This Miracle prepares us for the belief of another no lesse strange then the former For if we consult the Holy Scriptures we shall find that the Son of God was made the Son of man for no other end then to make us the Children of God he was humbled that we might be exalted and he hath facilitated the belief of our future greatness by the example of his debasement His birth is a pledge of ours he was born of a woman but to assure us that we might be born of God neither was he apparelled with the flesh in the womb but to perswade us that one day we shall be clothed with glory in the heavens And this is the Argument the most illuminated of the Evangelists makes use of to establish our second Generation for having taught us that Baptisme and Faith give us God for our Father fearing lest so high a promise find no credit in our understanding * Venit Filius ut illo participantemortalitatem nostram per dilectionem nos efficeret participes divinitatis suae per adoptionem Aug. de Cons Evangel he gives us the Generation of the Word for an assurance of our Regeneration and having ravished all men with those magnificent words He gave them power to become the Sons of God hee discovers the cause of that miracle and clearing us of one wonder by telling a greater he tells us man may become God since God by an excesse of love was willing to become man And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us This is the admirable argumentation of St. John and the solid establishment of our greatness 'T is by this unparallel'd example that hee prepares us for the belief of our mysteries this is the proof all the Fathers make use of to perswade us that the misery of our condition can no way hinder us from being the children of God since the glory of the Word was no obstacle to his being made man Give me leave to expresse these wonders in the words of S. August Vt homines nascerentur ex Deo primo ex ipsis natus est Deus Non quaesivit quidem nisi matrem in terra quia jam patrem habebat in coelo natus ex Deo per quem efficeremur natus ex foemina per quem resiceremur Noli ergo mirari quia efficeris Filius Dei pergrat am quia nasceris ex Deo per verbum ejus prius ipsum Verbum voluit nasci ex homine ut tu securus nascereris ex Deo diceres nasci voluit Deus ex homine ut immortalem me faceret pro me mortaliter nascitur Aug. Tract 2. in Joan. and to joyn the pomp of his eloquence to the majesty of my subject God that makes all things with so much justice was willing to bee born of a woman that men might might be born of him He sought out but one Mother upon the earth because he had already one Father in heaven being born of his Father he made us being born of his mother he re-made us associating by an admirable conjunction the quality of Creator with that of Redeemer Wonder not then if by grace ye are the Sons of God since ye are born of him by his word nor thinke it strange that ye shall be one day immortall in glory since God in his second Generation became mortall was willing to suffer death upon the Crosse for our salvation Thus his Charity makes us like him his goodness surpasseth the miseries of our nature and renders us partakers of his glory so that there is no Christian but may boast that his Baptisme confers upon him by grace all the advantages Jesus Christ possesseth by nature and that the Mystery of the Incarnation being repeated in the faithfull by their new Birth exalts them by a happy Indulgence to the greatness of Jesus Christ The Sixth DISCOURSE Of the Adoption of Christians and the advantages it hath above the Adoption of Men. IF it be true that the end why the Son of God was made the son of Man was that we might be made the children of God we need not think it strange that the adoption of a Christian is one of the chiefest effects of Baptism nor that man changing his condition by his regeneration change also his Father and Mother But it is a thing very well worthy our admiration to consider that he is adopted by a Father who having an onely Son equal to himself should in reason cast out all adopted children were he not obliged to accept them at the intreaty of his own proper Son Adoptio nuptiarum subsidium fortunae remedium supplet sterilitati vel orbitati Jurisc For to take this Truth at the rise and unfold the wonders contained in it we must know that Adoption was invented among men to supply the barrenesse of Parents or the death of children Indeed t is a thing never heard of that a Father to whom Nature hath given a Son should adopt another and seek that in a strange Family which he may find in his own He would beleeve himself to offend against paternal charity should he divide it and injurious to his Son should he assigne him coheirs Though this be his only one he never resolves to provide him companions neither hath he ever recourse to this remedy but when the death of his son makes it lawfull in making it necessary In the mean time the Eternal Father adopts us though he have an immortal Son he extends his affections to us and admits us into his Family to make us share in his Inheritance But that which most furprifeth us in this Oeconomy is That he undertakes this designe at the request of his Son nor does he honour us with the condition of Children till Jesus Christ hath honoured us with that of Brethren 'T is one of the chiefest motives of his incarnation and we may say that he had never chosen a Mother upon earth but that he might have Brethren in heaven He is the onely begotten in the bosom of his Father He shares not this quality with the Holy Ghost and as their processions are different one is the Son the other the Spirit of the Father the One remains in his bosom the Other in his heart the One proceeds by Knowledge the Other by Love But this onely Son is first born of the chaste spotless womb of the Virgin by his temporal birth he gains Brethren and clothing them with the robes of his merits obligeth his Father to avow them for his Children For we
protects us from all disasters we have nothing to be afraid of but our own weakness and provided we remain true to Grace we may promise our selves victory over our greatest enemies God watcheth over us as over the members of his Son he hath a care of our Interests he blesseth all our designes he makes the hatred of our adversaries serviceable to our salvation and spite of the fury of all Divels that tempt us and the rage of all Tyrants that persecute us he at last brings us happily to Glory But that which I finde most admirable in this Allyance is that in some sort it makes us enter upon the rights of a Father over his Son Jesus Christ for we * Nomen Paternitatis ex divinis ad humanos Patres translatum est Damas de fide cap. 9. produce him on our Altars and in the souls of Beleevers we are his Fathers and his Mothers and by a manner as true as incomprehensible we give him a new life here below The Priests bring him forth by their words and the Church acknowledgeth she should not enjoy her Beloved upon the earth did not the Priests make him descend from heaven 'T is in this administration that more powerful then Joshua they command Jesus Christ and entring into the authority of his Father they prescribe him Lawes which never he dispenseth with when they speak he obeys he works an hundred miracles to comply with their Orders The Preachers †O praeclara O reverenda potestas vestra certè non est potestas post Deum sicut potestas vestra quod enim vobis dedit primo loco sancta Verbi Incarnatio vos de die in diem nobis ministratis nobis ex collatae potestatis officio Berâ—de Coena Dom. imitate the Priests and from their Mission receive the same power the others do from their Character their lips are fruitfull in the Church they never preach but they hold forth the Son of God their word is a sacred branch that gives life to their Auditors and by a strange miracle they are the Fathers of Jesus Christ and of the faithfull they travell with them both together and when God blesseth their labours they bring forth these two Twins at the same time This is the happinesse the great * Filioli mei quos iterum parturio donec formetur Christusâ—n vobis Gal. 4. Apostle of the Gentiles boasted of heretofore when he called the Galatians his children and forming Jesus Christ in their souls he endeavoured to perfect both by his Evangelical labours Thus Preachers and Priests take their fruitfulnesse from the Father Everlasting they have no authority over his Son but because they have the honour to be his Ministers nor do they enter into his power but because they have an interest in the divine Paternity This advantage is not so peculiarly theirs that it is not common to them with the faithful Every Christian may conceive Jesus Christ in his own soul and bring him forth in others he may be both Father and Mother and the Son of God teacheth us that so holy an Allyance is contracted by an humble obedience He that doth the will of his Father becomes his Mother he that preacheth by his good example becomes his Father and every Christian may boast he returns that to Jesus Christ he received from him in his Baptism But certainly we must acknowledge there is no person that more honourably possesseth this advantage then the blessed Virgin she is the Mother of the Son of God in so August a manner that she comes neer that of his Eternal Father 't is the noblest copy of that divine Original neither is there any creature to whom God hath more largely communicated his fecundity He takes pleasure to see himself imitated by the Virgin and to observe in the person of Mary the properties of his divine Hypostasis He begot his Son of his substance and Mary of her bloud He conceived his Word in his bosom and Mary in her womb He produced him by a vertue that constitutes his Person in the Trinity and Mary brings him forth by the same vertue communicated to her in the moment of the Incarnation He produceth him by the knowledge of his Greatness and Mary by the consideration of her Nothingness Finally the Father begetteth his Son equall to himself Et erat subditus illis Luc. 2. Quid fecit Verbum non capiebatur in se descendit ita etiam ut esset subditus illis sic mutavit confilium suum ut quod tunc caeperat usque ad trigesimum annum dimiserit Ber. de Resur Domin Ser. 3. and Mary bringeth forth her first-born like unto Men Shee holds the place of the Eternal Father upon earth she is the Regent of the Son in his Minority she prescribes laws to him that gives lawes to the Angels and Jesus Christ reverencing the Authority of his Father in the person of his Mother was obedient to her the space of thirty yeers Thus the Eternal Father hath nothing so proper that he communicates not to Christians the Allyance he contracts with them is so strict that together with him they are all the fathers of the same Son and we may say 't was drawn out of that communication seeing he reserves not that very quality that distinguisheth him from his own naturall Son As the holy Spirit is the sacred bond uniting all these divine Allyances he also is pleased to associate himself with the Christians and entertains so firm a union with them that he is as well their Spirit as that of the Father and the Son for he is shed abroad in our hearts by charity he erects his Throne in our hearts he quickens us by his presence leads us by his motions illuminates us by his light and warms us by his heat He is so well blended with us that he is more the Principle of our actions then we our selves If we pray he furnisheth us with words and conceptions he expresseth himself by our mouth weeps with our eyes works with our hands and as if he were incarnate in each of us he makes use of all our members to accomplish his designes This divine Spirit accommodates himself to all our affairs and conditions he acts diversly in the faithfull and as the soul diffused over all the body sees with the eys works with the hands hears with the ears so he preacheth by the Apostles suffers in the Martyrs instructeth in the Doctors and in his adorable Unity produceth an acceptable Diversity of operations and effects His infinite charity obligeth him to intermeddle with our affairs he comforts the miserable without troubling his own happiness he strengthens the weak and makes Maids and Children triumph in the infirmity of their Age and Sex he teacheth the ignorant and this Divine Master distils Truth into the Understanding without the mediation of the Senses Finally he is the Spirit of the Church the bond of the faithful the love of Christians
Heart that inanimates the Body and that part that gives life to all the rest Thence it comes to pass that to express the operations of the holy Spirit in the Church we call him the Heart thereof and not wronging his greatness we make use of this Example to express his Charity by For 't is an undoubted truth That he inanimates the whole Church That he is conveyed into all her Members Quod est in corpore nostro anima id est Spiritus sanctus in corpore Christi quod est Ecclesia Aug. Serm. 186. de Temp. That he never forsakes her but in whatsoever condition she is she is always fully in his possession He is the Principle of her Operations as the Author of her Life She acts not but by His motions and whatever She undertakes 't is by his Counsels or his Inspirations He prosides in all Her Assemblies She determines nothing but by His advice and in Her General Councels She pronounceth no Oracles which She hath not received from Him As He speaks by Her Mouth She conceives by His Thoughts and she delivers nothing upon trust to her children which she hath not learn'd in the School of this Divine Master If he instruct her in her doubts he keeps her at unity maugre those rents and divisions that threaten to distract her entertaining that admirable harmony amongst the different parts whereof she is compacted One of the wonders in Mans body is that the same Heart which is the fountain of Life is also the bond of Peace it is the Ligature of all the Members and the Spirits it imparts unto them are so many invisible Chains which entertain their mutual Society As soon as it leaves off to inanimate them it ceaseth to unite them neither can it suspend its influences but all the parts of the State fall apieces Credentium erat Cor unum Anima una Act. 4. The Holy Ghost works the same thing in the Church He is the Soul and the Cement of this Great Body he concentres all the Faithful by his Love and doing that in Time which he does during Eternity he unites Christians as he unites the Divine Persons Si charitas de tot animabus fecit animam unam de tot cordibus fecit cor unum quanta est charit is inter Patrem Filium charitas autem Patris Filii Spiriâ—us sanctus est Aug. Tract 14. in Joan. For the Church raigns in the Unity of the Spirit she findes her rest and strength in that admirable incohabitation nor is she afraid that Heresies should dissect her as long as the holy Spirit preserves her unity 'T is this good intelligence that makes her terrible to her enemies This is it that maintains her for so many Ages against the violence of Tyrants the fury of Devils and the subtil stratagems of Hereticks Neither do I wonder at it since the force and power of States consists in their Union and Polititians study no one designe so much as to banish Division thereby to keep their people quiet and at rest For Experience teacheth them that growing Kingdoms have no surer Bulwarks against the Approaches of an Enemy then the Concord of their Subjects When they conspire together they are invincible and when they are divided Qâ— bus erat una sides erat una substantia quibus crat communis spiritus communis erat sumptus they are at the eve of their ruine and destruction But notwithstanding all the care Polititians take to keep Peace in their Common-wealth there are a thousand subjects of Division which they cannot hinder Mens Interests are more different then their Conditions the People are industrious to preserve their Liberty the Prince to enlarge his Prerogative and Private men cannot endure the ruine of their Families for the preservation of the Publike Though all these Disorders were not able to sowe Division in a State the diversity of Opinions would effect it For though every one mean well yet all ministers aim not at the same thing the worst Counsellors are many times most listned to and those that more respect the Fortune of the Prince then his Person are most dangerous But the Church is secured from all these dangers though she have many Ministers she hath but one Counsellor Gods Spirit is her Spirit she is never divided in her determinations her embracing of an Opinion makes it a Truth and having consulted him that governs her all her Decisions are Articles of Faith She never erres in Councels whatever she pronounceth there is infallible and her children are no less observant of her words then of those of the Evangelists She cannot be contradicted without much rashness those that desert her Judgement are involv'd in a Lye and if those who acquiesce in her bosome may haply be in the cloud of Ignorance they cannot be in the snare of Heresie The same Spirit that gives Authority to the Church stamps Obedience upon her children so that there can be no falling out in a Body where Charity stisles Schisms Light dispels Darkness and Power suppresseth Revolts and Insurrections But nothing so much magnifieth the Unity of the Church as to behold her not divided by the disparity of Conditions and that the same Spirit which unites all the Faithful employs them about divers Offices according to his designes and their own inclinations In this it is that the Church more resembles a Natural body and the Spirit the Heart that inanimates it For though the Heart be one yet is it different in its operations it acts diversly according to the diversity of the Members It expresseth it self by the Mouth guides it self with the Eyes defends it self with the Hands and making every part serviceable according to its power it preserves the Publike good without interessing the Private Thus one and the same Spirit causeth a thousand different effects in the Church it speaks by the mouth of Prophets enlightens their understandings informs them of secrets to come and violating the method of Time recals things past and makes futurities present He it was that wrote the History of the Son of God before he was born of his mother he it was that expressed his Truths in Figures his Light in Shadows and the most important actions of his life by those of the Patriarchs The same Spirit that spake by the mouth of the Prophets spake by that of the Apostles he was their Master after the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven he instructed them in those Mysteries they were yet ignorant of and making them capable in a moment taught them without the tedious expence of labour and delay what they were suddenly to preach to Infidels To facilate this design he gave them the gift of Tongues and working a Miracle incredible to reason he inspired them with words which the whole World understood that all Nations might obey them 'T was a prodigy that surpriz'd men Per linguas diversas dividi meruit
genus humanum Eeclesiae contulit unitate ut quod discordia dissipaverat colligeret charitas Aug. ser 3. de Pentecost when God intending to stop the progresse of that proud Tower the aspiring Posterity of Noah rays'd to get them a Name confounded their Language and scattered the people by the division of their Dialects But it was a far greater wonder when the Holy Ghost to unite all Nations honoured the Apostles with the gift of Tongues and made one man speak the Language of the Universe that the Gospel might be preached without an Interpreter through all the Provinces of the World And we must confesse the Church was never more glorious then when consisting but of one people it already spake the Language of all Countreys and proclaimed by this Miracle that her Conquests were to have no bounds but those of the Universe To this day she enjoyes this Priviledge but with lesse splendour she speaks all Languages because she possesseth some of all people she hath that in her progresse which was conferred upon her at her birth and she owns that amongst all the Faithfull Loquor omnibus linguis quia in co sum Christi corpore hoc est in Ecclesia quae loquitur jam omnibus linguis Aug. in psal 54. which heretofore was eminent in every one of the Apostles Therefore saith S. Augustine is the gift of Tongues now superfluous because the Church having over-spread all the Earth she finds in the meanest of her Disciples what was consin'd heretofore to the Colledge of her Masters and she may boast she hath lost nothing of her antient Priviledges because the goods of a Body being common among the Members she hath no children that speak not all sort of Tongues by the mouth of their brethren But because speech without the effect is but a dead letter the same Spirit that gave the Church the gift of Tongues gave her also the power of working Miracles she hath subjects to whom nothing is impossible Nature submits to their orders Faith that inanimates them makes them absolute in the state of their Soveraign The Sun stands still in the midst of his Course to doe homage to their words the Sea becomes firm under their feet and the Earth trembles under those of their Enemies and they oblige that common Mother to make a sepulcher of her Womb to swallow them up alive Indeed this favour that exalts them so high is transient to humble them Donum miraculorum sicut aliae gratiae gratis datae non sunt in sanctis nisi per modum transeuntis D. Tho. their will is not the rule but the motion of the Holy Ghost they act not but when hee acts with them they work miracles when they receive the power from him and assoon as ever he leaves them they return to their former inability Miracles cost them prayers and teares they acknowledge their dependance even whilst they exercise their Empire and whilst all people look upon them as Gods they finde themselvs oblig'd to confesse that they are nothing but mear Creatures Is it not a wonder that St. Paul drives away Divels heals the sick and yet by his prayers cannot deliver either himself from that Divel or that malady which exercised his humility as much as his patience Finally this Spirit that acted so powerfully by the hands of the Apostles establishing the Gospel no lesse by their miracles then by their words fortified them in persecutions and gave them courage at the same time to triumph over grief and pleasure too For as the Tyrants employd subtilty and violence power and policy to vanquish the Martyrs making use of threats and promises to astonish or seduce the Apostles it was requisite that the Holy Ghost should inspire them with continence and strength and that Grace serving them instead of a Sword and Buckler gain'd them as many Victories as they were bid Battels His power never appeared more glorious then upon this occasion Quld magnum est si fortis Angelus magnum est si fortis est Caro sed unde fortis Caro unde forte vas fictile nisi à Domino Aug. in Psal 238. Miracles have not procured so many conquests as persecutions have the Saints never got so much credit by their power as by their constancy and infidell Rome hath more admired the patience of the Martyrs then the puissance of the Apostles In the meane time he that shall consider these effects in their primitive cause will confesse that one and the same spirit hath produced them and that as he inanimates the Church by his presence so by his assistance he communicates the understanding of Tongues the knowledge of things to come the power of Miracles and the victory over torments Wherefore the Church knowing very well that she owes all to the Holy Spirit Nihil agunt fideles inconsulto Spiritu Sancto quae petunt illi commendant quae accipiunt illi adscribunt Bernard undertakes nothing but by his direction and being perswaded that she hath no strength which she is not beholding to his ayd for she forms no design wherein she implores not his succour and when any happy successe compleats the Enterprise she gives publick testimony by her Eucharisticall deportment that she is beholding to the favour of the Holy Ghost for the benefit she rejoyceth in The Third DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit is in some sort the same to Christians that hee is to the Father and the Son from all Eternity THe alliance that the Eternall Word hath contracted with men is the source and originall of that which the Father and the Holy Spirit contract with the same Creatures The Father loves us as his children because we are the brethren of his only Son Heaven is as well our inheritance as our recompence and the quality of mercenaries or souldiers which we beare is no barre to that of children and heirs The Holy Spirit hath an influence also upon our souls by charity hee rears an altar in our hearts and of the members of our body he vouchsafes to make living Temples But as his infinite love hath no bounds his communications are much aforehand and by an excesse of goodnesse he was pleased to bee in time to the faithfull what he is in the Trinity to the Father and his only Sonne The whole Scripture teacheth us that the Holy Spirit is a sacred bond uniting the Father and the Son from all Eternity The Church which is very wel-sighted in these profound Mysteries Nexus amoris quo conjungitur Pater cum filio filius cum Patre cals him the True-loves-Knot The conclusion of her prayers clearly instruct us that the Father and the Son reign together in the unity of the Spirit Admit they were not one and the same Thing by their Essence they would be one and the same Principle by the Holy Spirit since all Theologie knowes very well that the Father and the Son are admirably united together to
produce him Therefore hath he received a name that perfectly expresseth his ineffable procession Charitas quae pater diligit filium filius patrē quae est Spiritus Sanctus ineffabilem communionem demonstrat Aug. de Trini for being the production of the Father and the Son he bears a name common to both and he is cal'd the Spirit because the Father and the Sonne call him so in Scripture Now this Spirit is the sacred Bond which conjoyns all Christians together he is not onely the soul but the unity and he it is who by admirable and secret Tyes entertaines a faire correspondence between all the parts of this great body The diffence of their conditions the contrariety of their humours the diversity of their designs hinders not the Holy Spirit from uniting them together nor that he that is the agreement of the Father and the Son be also the peace and agreement of the faithfull He it is that decided the differences between the Jewes and the Gentiles he it is who breaking down the partition Wall hath made of them one building he it is who perfecting the design of Jesus Christ hath happily taken out of the way all obstacles that impeded the unity of the Church and he it is who equalling the poor with the rich the freeman with the slave the learned with the ignorant hath framed that wonderfull body the most perfect Image of the Trinity Therefore must we acknowledge that all those figures that represent to us the person of the holy Ghost abundantly bear witnesse that his principall work is unity For sometimes he is called Fire because that element combines metalls in melting them and of two different substances makes a third which is neither one nor the other but rather both Sometimes he is called Water because he gives consistency to the earth watering it by secret veins and of a fluid sand makes a solid heap which serves for the foundation and centre of the whole Universe Therefore is it that the great Apostle of the Gentiles never speaks of unity Solliciti servare unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis Epist but he mentions the holy Ghost as the source and fountain of it As often as he recommends peace to the faithfull he wisheth them him that reconciles men unto God by the remission of sin that separates them asunder Neither hath charity which is the principall effect of this ever to be adored Spirit any more worthy employment then to unite Christians together after he hath united them with the Trinity The second Alliance that he contracts with us is that he becomes the gift of God to men as he is the gift of the Father to the Son and of the Son to the Father back again If we beleeve prophane Philosophy Love is not onely the first production but the first profusion of the will This faculty is liberall assoon as it is amorous and parting with its love it makes a donation of whatever holds of its Empire Thence it comes to passe that all Lovers are prodigall that they engage their liberty stripping themselves of their goods and renouncing their own inclinations assoon as ever they begin to be affectionate Now as the holy Spirit is the Love of the Father and the Son so is He their mutuall gift they give themselves whatever they are in producing him and it seems the Son renders to his Father by the production of the Spirit all that he received by his birth Though we want termes to expresse the greatnesse of these mysteries Faith which supplies our impotency steps in to perswade us that the holy Spirit is the uncreated Liberality of the Father and of the Son from all eternity and t is the same faith that teacheth us that the holy Ghost is also the gift of God to the Christians and that at the same time he entered into alliance with them he bestowed his love upon them as a mark of his largesse wherein I observe two or three things worthy of admiration The first is that God makes us a Present equall to himself Dedit dona hominibus quale donum Spiritum sanctum magna est autem Dei misericordia donum dat aequale sibi quia donum ejus Spiritus sanctus est Aug. ser 44. de verb. Dom. which the truest and most affectionate Lovers never do for though gifts are the effects of love they never equall it and if the Lover makes not himself a slave to the person he loveth he can offer no Present equivalent to his affection Pearls and Diamonds are but weak expressions of his good will whatever contents others are but incentives to his desires he would be a Monarch that he might bestow a kingdom and in that height of fortune he would professe no prodigality can satisfie a Lover But God to whom nothing is impossible hath in presenting his love presented a gift commensurate to the greatnesse of that best love he would expresse that which he bestows equalls himself his Present is infinite and when he tenders us the holy Ghost he makes offer of a divine Person The second excellency of this Present is that it prevents our merit because it findes us in the state of sin and did God consult his justice as much as his mercy we should appear the objects of his wrath rather then of his love For he bestows his Spirit upon his enemies he sheds his love abroad in the hearts of beleevers and we receive this favour from him when we deserve nothing but chastisements The third excellency of this gift is that it is the source of all others for being the prime radicall donation 't is that from whence all the bounteous liberality of God issues and proceeds who confers no benefit upon us which bears not the image and superscription of this first and prime gratuity Whatever comes from heaven is a copy of the holy Spirit riches are the expresses of his bounty advantageous parts of soul or body are the marks of his goodnesse Graces and vertues are his immediate impressions and in a few words to comprehend the priviledges of this Divine Offertory we must say with S. Augustine 't is the Pandora thorow which all other gifts are bestowed upon us If the Angels descend from heaven to protect us if the Sun enlightens us if the Stars favour us if the Earth nourish us if the Trees shade us if the Eternal Word leave the bosome of his Father to take upon him our miseries 't is by the counsel and mediation of the holy Spirit and this gift that ravished the Apostle who tells us of it was nothing but an effect and consequence of that primitive largess which is the cause of all others Thence I infer that when we receive any grace we ought to look upward to the Holy Spirit and acknowledging him the fountain of all blessings profess our selves bound to render him the eternal calves of our lips This favour would take away all hope of gratitude
Nature For if Jesus be the Natural Son of the Father the Christian is his Adopted one if Jesus be the Heir of the Father the Christian is the Co-heir of the Son according to the expression of the great Apostle if Jesus be Innocent the Christian is Justified if Jesus be born of the Spirit the Christian is regenerated thereby and receives in his Baptism what the Son of God received in his Birth Inasmuch as this last wonderfully exalteth the glory of the Faithful I conceive I ought to bestow this whole Discourse upon this matter and to make it appear that the Holy Ghost by an excess of bounty will be to every Christian what he is to Jesus Christ Faith teacheth us that though Jesus Christ be the Son of the Everlasting Father yet is he withal the Workmanship of the Holy Spirit he that was barren in Eternity became fruitful in Time he that produced nothing in the Heart of the Father produced the Word Incarnate in the Womb of the Virgin and he that before the world began was the Spirit of the Son in the fulness of time became his Principle The Scripture insinuates this Truth when it brings in the Angel speaking these words to the Virgin The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee And the Church teacheth it all her children in the Symbole of her Creed in these terms He was conceived of the Holy Ghost Et licet aliud quidem ex te aliud ex Patre sit jam non tamen cujusque suus sed unus utriusque erit Filius Sanctus Bern. super missus est homil Thence it comes to pass that his conception is so pure that sin hath no part therein and that he is free from shame as the mother that bare him was from sorrow He was so born saith Tertullian that he need not blush at the name of Son This great priviledge is granted the Christian in his Baptism and his second birth is as holy and as noble as his first was shameful and criminal In the one he is a sinner before he is reasonable and the slave of the devil as soon as he is the subject of Jesus Christ but in the other he is happily born again by the vertue of the Holy Spirit he receives grace as an earnest of glory he is adopted by the Father for his son acknowledged by Jesus Christ for his brother treated by the Angels as their equal and exalted to so high a condition that the holy Spirit disdains not to be stiled the Author and Principle thereof This is it that holy Scripture holds out to us by these words Vnless a man be born again of water and of the holy Ghost I would enlarge my self upon this meditation had I not explained it already in another passage of this Work Neither would it be any hard matter to make it appear that the Regeneration of a Christian is little inferiour in this particular to the Birth of Jesus Christ The second advantage that is common to them is that the same spirit which is their Principle is also their Director and that he that gives them life gives them conduct and motion These two Things are inseparable in Nature and in Grace the same causes that make us live make us act these Starres whose influences contribute so much to our birth are not lesse conducing to our fortune and as they are the Principles of our Being they are in some sort the Guides of our life if they have no dominion over our spirit they have over our humour and if they force not our liberty they many times sollicite our inclinations But not to rest in second Causes it is plaine the creature depends as well upon God in his motion as in his Being he governs men whom he hath created he guides Princes whom he hath raised to the Throne and he as absolutely hath their wills in his hands as their Scepter By the same reason the Holy Spirit which is the Principle of Jesus Christ is his Director he undertakes nothing but by his conduct and as he received his being from his goodnesse he submits all his actions to his power The Scriptures furnish us with a thousand proofes of so important a Truth all the Evangelists are the faithfull Witnesses thereof neither doe they ever take notice of the designs of the Son of God Ductus est Jesus à Spiritu quia Humanitas Christi erat organum Divinitatis ideo ad omnia movebatur instinctu Spiritûs sancti hoc igitur motu ivit in desertum locum aptum or ationi Glossa ordin but they make it appeare at the same time that the Holy Spirit is the first mover of them For if he retire into the desarts to converse with beasts if he enter the list wherein he seemes to injure his glory to assure our salvation if he spend dayes and nights there in prayers and fasting if he suffer his slave to tempt him and if he refuse not to combate him upon Earth that he had driven out of Heaven 't is because the Holy Spirit engageth him in the conflict and layes an obligation upon him to beare the punishment of our sins to deliver us therefrom if he passe from one Province to another if he leave a rebellious City to instruct another more obedient to his divine sermons 't is by the direction of his guide Jesus returned into Galile in the power of the Spirit If he work Miracles in Judea 't is not so much to magnifie his power In Spiritu Dei ejicio Daemonia as to comply with the motions of the Holy Spirit and though these signall wonders cost him but a few words or desires he never wrought them but his divine Principle obliged him thereto by some secret inspiration if he unfolds the Mysteries of our Religion if he declare to his Disciples the will of his Father and discover to them those grand designes contrived from all Eternity In ipsa hora exultavit Spiritu Sancto dixit confiteor tibi Pater Domine caeli terrae quod abscondisti haec à sapientibus prudentibus revelasti ca parvucis Luk. 10. and which were not to be executed but in time 't is the Holy Spirit that animates him to this discourse and obliges him to manifest that to men which till then he would not impart to the Angels If finally the Son of God offer himselfe up upon the Crosse for our salvation if he drown our sins in his blood if he reconcile us to his Father by his death and satisfie him with the losse of life and honour 't is the holy Spirit that engageth him in this Agony and who inspires him with love enough to vanquish the ignomy and paine thereof He offered himselse without spot to God by the Holy Ghost so that the life of the Son of God was spent in a continued obedience to the Holy Spirit he undertook nothing but by his orders executed nothing but by his
the faithfull and having deposed for the Divinity of him deposeth daily for the Innocence of these For we know by Scripture that the same Spirit that spake heretofore by the Prophets hath since spoken by the Apostles and having foretold the Ages past the wonders that Jesus ought to doe revealed them to the generations to come that all men might bee fully informed of the Mysteries concerning him to whom they were beholding for their salvation This Spirit is the testimony of Jesus and of the faithfull because he hath formed them and knows all their thoughts whereof hee is the first Principle and Author This also was he that descended upon the head of the Son of God in the forme of a Dove during the ceremonies of his Baptisme 't was he that discovered to S. John Baptist his Innocence and taught him without speaking that he was that Lamb of God that was to take away the sins of the world And hee it is that daily performs the same office to Christians For having been their Master he vouchsafes to be their witnesse he speaks to the eternall Father in their behalfe having pleaded their cause he gives them assurance of their salvation The Rest that calmes the waves of their conscience is an effect of his testimony those sighes and groans he draws from the bottome of their heart those desires he inspires them with for everlasting good things those scorns he furnisheth them with for perishable ones are so many Earnests which the Elect have of his love and their salvation if there be some remainders now and then of Fear amidst their Hope 't is to preserve them from Negligence or from Pride and to make them profess that they finde in him a Divine Principle a wise Director a knowing Master and a faithful Witness The Fifth DISCOURSE That the presence of the Holy Spirit gives life to the Christian and his absence causeth his death ONe of the chiefest advantages we shall partake of in Glory is that God will be to us in stead of all things and that finding in him the accomplishment of all our desires we shall there meet with our perfect felicity He will be the Temple of the Blessed because they shall lodge in his Divine Essence He will be for a garment to them because they shall be cloathed with his light He will be their nourishment because he gives them eternal life and according to the language of S. Paul he will be All in all to these blessed inhabitants The Holy Spirit seems to have a minde to make us taste upon Earth the Happiness of Heaven inasmuch as he is all things to us in the Church that he informs us in our doubts comforts us in our afflictions assists us in our conflicts teacheth us in our prayers For Christians owe all that they are and all that they do to the holy Spirit They live by his presence act by his power understand by his light and love by his charity All their advantages flow from him If they are Saints 't is he that sanctifies them if they are free 't is he that sets them at liberty if they are generous 't is he that encourageth them and if they be wise 't is he that enlightens them In the mean time the most part of the Faithful are ungrateful to the holy Spirit Liberalitem Dei servitutem faciunt Tert. They attribute that to their own power which they derive from his and turning his grace into a slavery they would pass for the Authors of a work whereof they are at most but the Ministers Therefore will I spend this Discourse to let them see that the holy Spirit inanimates them and that as by his presence he makes them live so by his withdrawing himself he makes them die A Man and a Christian have some resemblance in their difference they live both of them by the Spirit and their life is rather spiritual then animal For though Man have a body composed of the Elements which hath need of the Air to breathe of the Earth to bear it of Food to nourish it and of Light to make it see yet is his soul the principle of his life This Form inanimates the heart giving it motion whereby all the other parts live The absence of the soul is the death of the body its presence the life and when grief or weakness separates them Man ceaseth to be a living creature Inasmuch as a Christian is more excellent then a Man by so much is his life more sublime and he hath a nobler principle of his Being For the holy Spirit is his Soul and paring off whatever defects that name may include he is the Form that inanimates the Believer Though he have an Understanding that reasoneth a Memory that preserves his conceptions and a Will free and absolute yet does he live by the holy Spirit and receive from him a supernatural life which makes him capable of God As long as he is united to this Spirit he is alive assoon as he is parted from him he is dead And 't is a miracle saith S. Augustine that the soul dead by sin does nevertheless enliven the body and that notwithstanding that imperfection Aliud est in anima unde corpus vivificatur aliud unde ipsa anima vivificatur Melius quippe anima quam corpus sed melius quam ipsa est Deus est ergo ipsa etiamsi sit insipiens injusta impia vita corporis Aug. Tract 19. in Joan. it have wherewithal still to reason in the finding out of Sciences and to manage it self in its affairs and negotiations It is true therefore that the absence of the holy Spirit greatly impaireth the vigour and clearness of Man for the life of Man as a Reasonable creature and as a Christian are so intimately united together that the one cannot be separated from the other without an extreme detriment and enfeebling of the creature The Christian merits not till he begin to reason Grace is idle in his soul when Reason is not yet formed in it and all Divines are of opinion that children baptized have no other merits but those of Jesus Christ Heaven is their Inheritance but not their Recompence they are in the condition of Heirs but not of Souldiers and the Crown they receive is rather the Consequence of their good Fortune then the Reward of their Labour Man is yet more deplorable when he loseth Grace then when the Christian loseth Reason for besides that none of his actions are any longer meritorious that he does nothing pleasing to God and having lost the Principle of his supernatural life he is destitute of all recompence and desert he hath moreover contracted this misfortune Vita infidelium peccatum est nihil est bonum sine summo bono ubi enim deest agnitio aeternae veritatis falsa virtus est etiam in optimis moribus Prosp sen 106 that he is become the slave of Concupiscence which throws Darkness over his
from him who lived in poverty nor would receive any Disciples into his School that had not sold their goods and distributed them to the poor they demand Earth of him that reigns in Heaven the establishment of their welfare in this world from him who is the Father of that which is to come and taking no notice of their Creed they begge time of him who promiseth eternity But the holy Spirit disabuseth Christians when he either enlightens or instructs them For being the Spirit of the Son and knowing his intentions he never puts them upon those requests that are offensive to him When their hearts are encouraged with his Grace they preferre Conscience before Honour Vertue before Interest Grief before Pleasure and the will of God before their own inclinations If sometimes they petition for perishable goods 't is as farre as necessity obliges them and knowing that all such demands are dangerous 't is with feare that they always commence such suits with reservation that they continue them and with submission that they conclude them All their prayers are terminated with those words of our blessed Saviour to his Father in the Garden Not as I will but as thou wilt Finally the same Spirit teacheth them innocent Stratagems which they ought to make use of to pacifie the indignation of their Heavenly Father and to obtain those Graces they become Petitioners for Men are so little acquainted with God Quid oremus sicut oportet nescimus Rom. 8. that they know neither his minde nor his will his greatnesse exalts him so farre above us that we cannot approach unto him his designes are concealed from us and the Eternall Decrees he hath conceived in his breast are not to be penetrated by us 'T is with feare that we addresse our selves before him and being ignorant of his designes and resolutions wee have an apprehension that our desires may bid him defiance Wee have certain secrets to gain men we know by what arts we may insinuate into their fair opinion we have dexterity enough to take them with their interests and Rhetorick supplies us with inventions to triumph over their liberty without doing them the least violence But we know not how we are to treat with God his Majesty astonisheth us his Splendour dazles us and if his Mercy assure us his Justice confounds us because if we are miserable wee are besides more guilty The Holy Spirit assists us in this disorder whereto our sin hath reduced us Qui autem scrutatur corda scit quid desideret spiritus quia secundum Deum postulat pro Sanctis Rom. 8. For residing in the heart of the Father and of the Son he knows their most intimate cogitations he sounds those abysses which the Angels cannot descend into he sees their secretest intentions and teacheth us innocent artifices to appease them when provoked against us He spake no doubt by the mouth of Moses when that Prophet disarmed the Almighty and reduced to a loving impotency him whose power hath no other bounds but his will It was the Holy Spirit who fettered him by the hands of Moses and obliged him to demand leave to be avenged of his enemies Let me alone that my fury may waxe hot 'T is the same Spirit that daily disarms our God that pulleth the Thunder out of his hands and which gently forcing him willingly to be overcome by the prayers hee dictates to us triumphs over his fury by our perseverance 'T is he finally that teacheth us to desire that life that is knowne onely by Faith Est in nobis quaedam ut ita dicam docta ignorantia sed docta Spiritu Dei qui adjuvat infirmitatem nostram Aug. and possessed onely by Charity 'T is hee saith Saint Augustine that inspires us with that learned Ignorance whereby wee confesse that the happinesse that is promised us surpasseth our imagination wee know onely that his greatnesse exceedeth all those Ideas we can fashion of him so that wee reject all that are offered to our understanding knowing very well that faculty cannot conceive the good it is bound to hope for 'T is the Holy Spirit that mingles his light with our darknesse and leaving us in the ignorance of our felicity gives as much knowledge of it as is requisite to desire it For as Saint Augustine wisely observes if it were absolutely unknown of us it could never stir up any desire in us but besides were it fully revealed it could not provoke our hopes since according to the Maxime of the Apostle what a man sees he hopes not for nor wishes that which hee possesseth But the last and most admirable Stratagem of this Divine Spirit In quo clamamus Abba pater postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus Rom. 8. is that he accompanies our prayers with his groanes that without disturbing his own happiness he partakes of our distresses rendring himself in a sort miserable with us to make us happy with him for 't is by his motion that we send forth sighs by his grace that we groan and he so fully works these things in us that the Apostle attributing them to him is not afraid to say that he intercedes for us with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed In a word 't is this Spirit that teacheth us to mourn in the world that informs us that the Earth is our Banishment Heaven our Country that the one is to be endured the other to be hoped for Whoever knows how to profit by this instruction spends all his life in the doleful tone of the Turtle he sighs always when he considers that he is separated from JESUS and that living here belowe Nec parva res est quod docet nos Spiritus sanctus gemere insinuat enim nobis quia peregrinamur docet nos in Patriam suspirare ipso desiderio gemimus Aug. he hath onely the Earnest of that happiness which is promised him he weeps in these just desires and sheds tears much different from those of sinners They groan indeed burthened with Misfortunes the inseparable companions of Life they complain when they have lost their Liberty they sigh when they are oppressed with any Sorrow they murmure when they are betrayed by their friends or persecuted by their enemies But these Lamentations savour nothing of those mournful Accents of the Dove 'T is not Charity but Interest that fans this Passion 't is the spirit of the World and not that of God that makes them thus breathe out their souls in Sadness For as this last is Eternal so he sighs onely for Eternity as he proceeds from the Father and the Son he returns thither again and leads us with him and being the Spirit of Truth he occasions us to wish none but solid Goods nor to grieve for any but true Evils The Seventh DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit remits the Sins of the Christian REpentance is one of the greatest advantages Christian Grace can possibly have above Original
Righteousness Poenitentia à poena nomen accepit quia anima cruciatur caro mortificatur Aug. For though it presuppose sin and that Man cannot repent if he have not done amiss yet is it a very present help against his Infirmity and an admirable Invention of Mercy to deliver him from his Transgression In the mean time the state of Innocence was deprived of it and whether these two priviledges were incompatible neither would God grant this favour to men who had no excuse for their sin because it was absolutely in their power not to commit it we see not that they had this Prerogative nor that Adam recovered from his Fall by the assistance of Original Justice His Conversion is an effect of the Grace of JESUS CHRIST If he bewailed his sin he is beholding to the merits of the Son of God Nullus hominum transit ad Christum ut incipiat esse quod non erat nisi cum poeniteat fuisse quod erat Homil. 50. and if he repented 't was not till he became Christian For the Divine Providence which turns our Evils into Remedies is pleased to make use of our weakness in the business of Repentance and fortifying our Liberty by the vertue of Grace settles us in a condition more humble indeed but more sure then that of Innocence Therefore is it not founded so much upon the Will as upon Grace drawing its force much less from Man then from Jesus Christ He it is that hath instituted the remedy in his Church by a Sacrament wherein the holy Spirit raiseth up sinners after he hath regenerated them by Baptism For as he is the Principle of our new life so is he the Restorer thereof as he gives it by his Grace so he repairs it by his Goodness he presides in this sacred Pool and working stranger Miracles then the Angel did at the pool of Hierusalem he convinceth the Obstinate enlightens the Blinde instructeth the Ignorant Indeed this Sacrament hath always been lookt upon by Christians as a chanel thorow which the holy Spirit pours forth his graces into the souls of sinners There it is that he works those prodigies which astonish all Christians there it is that he acts as God and by a victorious sweetness triumphs over the liberty of Criminals there it is that he changeth Persecutors into Apostles Wolves into Lambs Libertines into Believers and Lascivious persons into Continent In the Old Testament this Spirit changed men externally indued them with new strength made use of Samsons to tame Lions take Cities and defeat Armies The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson aad he slew a thousand men He changed the minde of those that he lifted up to the Throne and putting the Scepter into their hands inspired the Politicks into their soul and taught them that Science whereby Soveraigns govern States and Kingdoms The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee and thou shalt be changed into another man But now he changeth the hearts he causeth a Metamorphosis less glittering but more useful inspiring into the soul Repentance and Sorrow for Sin This Change is attributed to the holy Spirit because being the personal Love Est Spiritus sanctus in confitente jam ad donum Spiritûs sancti pertinet quia tibi displicet quod fecisti immundo spiritui peccata placent sancto displicent Aug. all the effects which designe any goodness are particularly applied to him and our Religion knows none greater then that wherein God receives his enemy into favour where not considering his Greatness he prevents him by his Mercy nor minding the many sins he hath committed treats with him not as a Rebellious Slave but as an obedient Son This belongs to the holy Spirit because being that sacred Bond that unites the Father with the Son from all Eternity it concerns him to reconcile sinners to God who are separated from him by their offences according to the language of the Prophet Your sins have separated between you and your God Finally this effect is so honourable to him that he is pleased to take it for his Name For the Church in her Oraisons calls it the Remission of Sins And as to flatter the ambition of Conquerours they bestow upon them the names of those Provinces they have reduced under their obedience the Church is of opinion that worthily to praise the holy Spirit to his Divine Qualities this glorious Title must be added and to specifie the victories he gains over sinners to name him by way of excellence The Remission of sins This Maxime is so true and the pardon of our offences so particularly attributed to the holy Ghost that the Ministers who are employed in this Sacrament must be quickned with his vertue to blot out sins For as Saint Augustine judiciously observes the Apostles received not the power to absolve the Guilty till they had received the holy Ghost nor did the Son of God say unto them Remit sins till he had before said unto them Receive the holy Ghost that they might know it was through his Name that they wrought this Miracle and that they were onely his Organs when they dispensed Grace in the State of their Soveraigne This will not seem strange to those that shall consider there is no greater power in the Church then to forgive sins For 't is in a manner to act upon a Non-entity 't is to imitate the power of God and to extract Grace out of Sin as the World out of Nothing Besides if we believe Saint Ambrose the Conversion of sinners hath something more difficult in it then the Creation of men For though in both these works God act upon nothing David telling us that to change a heart is to create it Create in me O God a clean heart and Saint Paul assuring us that our soul is created in good works when we are converted Creati in bonis operibus It seems God meets with more resistance in Conversion then in Creation Nothing obeys God when it hears his Word if it contribute not to his designes neither doth it oppose them and no sooner hath God made known his desire but it thrusts forth out of its barren womb The Heaven with its Stars the Earth with its Fields and the Sea with its Rocks He spake and they were made he commanded and they were created But Sin is a Non-entity rebellious against God it knows his minde and contemns it sets up parties in his State deboists his subjects and intrenching it self in their heart as in a Fort disputes the victory with their Soveraign Moreover there is no body but knows that God acts far more absolutely in the Creation of Men then in the Conversion of Sinners For when he drew man out of Nothing he advised with none but Himself he had no respect to his Liberty because he handled him as a Slave and speaking imperiously to him obliged him to appear before his Creator But when he Converts him he uses some kinde of
belongs The second includes sins of ignorance which seem to injure the Person of the Son to whom Wisdom is attributed The third comprehends sins of malice which seem to maligne the Person of the Holy Ghost to whom Goodness belongs Following this division they suppose that the first and second sort of sins deserve some pardon because the weakness and ignorance wherwith they are accompanied may plead somewhat in their excuse but the last are altogether unworthy of pardon because malice is the very soul of them and that those that have committed them had strength and light enough not to fall into them But if this Maxime were true there were not any Christian that would hope for the pardon of his sins since being enlightned by Faith and assisted by Grace they need neither eys to see them nor hands to withstand them Nay all the world knows there is not any sinner in whose soul Malice Weakness and Ignorance are not blended together Concupiscence which blinds their Understanding enfeebles their Will and sin reigning in both of them inspires them with Malice Thus every sinner would grow desperate and having offended the holy Spirit could not expect the remission of his sins Others explain this passage of Hereticks who knowing the Truth do notwithstanding contradict it who persecute the Church because she is the Spouse of Jesus Christ and serving for Ministers to the Divel do their utmost to ruine the workmanship of the Son of God But we have seen Hereticks converted who have stood for the defence of the Truth having quitted that of a Lye and who have gained subjects to Jesus Christ after they had procured slaves for his Enemy Some others understand it with St Augustine of that sin that accompanies men till death and which always resisting Grace cannot be expiated but by the pains of hell Pro quibus jam non est hostia sed terribilis quaedam expectatio judicii This Explication doubtless is the most assured for that the sin wherein any one dies is certainly irremissible but I do not know whether this Interpretation be the truest For it seems the Son of God would plainly and simply insinuate unto us the difference between sinners that oppose the designes of the Father and the Son and those who resist the designes of the Holy Ghost Ad hoc Mediator est Christus ut eos qui recesserant à Patre per se reconciliet suo sanguine eorum peccata solveret Aug. in Psal 93. ser 2. for though the first be culpable and have done very ill to neglect the Father speaking to them by the mouth of the Prophets yet might they hope for some impunity in their crimes and promise themselves that the Son coming upon the earth would reconcile them to his Father Though the second were more to blame then the first and deserve a severer punishment for not hearing the Son who taught them by his examples instructed them by his discourse and ravished them with his miracles They might yet perswade themselves that the Holy Ghost descending down amongst them would convert them and that submitting to his Graces and yeelding obedience to his Councels would change their bad life into a better But the last who resist the Holy Ghost can have no more hope their sin considering the disposition of the Orders of God is irremissible of its own nature for they no longer expect a divine Person that may reconcile them with the others The mission of the Holy Ghost is the last and the Scripture holds forth nothing more to be expected but the coming of Jesus Christ to judge both the quick and the dead Thus their sin who resist the Holy Ghost Contra Spiritum sanctum quo peccata omnia dimittuntur verbum valde malum nimis impium dicit quem patientia Dei cum ad paenitentiam adducat ipse secundum duritiam cordis sui cor impaenitens thesaurizat sibi iram in die judicii Dei qui reddet unicuique juxta opera ejus Aug. de verbis Dom. Ser. 12. is not only inexcusable but irremissible if they submit not to his inspirations their salvation is desperate if they suffer not themselves to be swayed by his motions 't is in vain that they pretend to glory and if they make not good use of his graces 't is rashness to promise that the Father or the Son will descend upon the earth to work their conversion for the holy Spirit consummates the work of the Father and of the Son he is the oeconomy of our salvation he that always resists him cannot be converted and he that will not give ear to his counsels cannot avoyd the judgment of the Son of God Thus to conclude in a few words all that we have delivered in this discourse The Holy Ghost remits the sins of the world reconciles sinners to God animates them against themselves to give him satisfaction but acting after another manner with obstinate perverse transgressours he gives them up to their impiety and justly refuseth them that grace which they have insolently despised The Eighth DISCOURSE That the CHRISTIAN in his Infirmities is assisted by the strength of the Holy SPIRIT VVEakness is so natural to the Creature that he hath need of Grace in the state of innocence as well as in that of sin Nothing Natura humana etiamsi in illa integritate in qua condita est permaneret nullo modo seipsam Creatore suo non adjuvante permaneret Aug. Epist 109. ad Bonif. from whence he came forth engageth him in this necessity and all Divines confesse with St Augustine That Man in Paradise could not raise himself up to God nor defend himself against the Divel without the assistance of Grace But his task is much harder since he became a Delinquent the infirmity he hath contracted from sin is far greater then that he drew out of Nothing and he is much weaker because he is a sinner then because he is a Creature The one is common to him with Angels who though of never so noble an extraction stood nevertheless in need of Grace whereby to persevere in that good they were instated in the other is proper and particular and takes it 's originall from all those devastations sin hath made in nature For there remains nothing in man since his disobedience which is not wholly impair'd His Understanding hath scarce any light to discern truth from falshood his Memory hath no more that force to retain the severall Species of things committed to it's trust and his Will is so enfeebled that it scarce meets with any enemies that triumph not over his liberty ever since it became captive it droop'd languish'd the divell that possesseth it tyrannizeth over it and if grace come not in to the rescue it cannot hold out against his solicitations Sin is yet more absolute then Satan he hath onely a borrowed power he reignes not over the hearts but because he domineers over the senses
that fortifies our weakness when we are set upon that dissipates our darkness when we are blinded and sweetens our discontents when we are troubled Hee weeps with us without interessing his felicity he shares in our infirmities without prejudicing his Almightinesse he is sadded with our miseries without disquieting his own contentedness he puts sighs into our hearts words into our mouthes reasons into our understandings to expresse our wretchedness and to pacifie our Judge Postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus The union he contracts with us is so strict that the Scripture attributes to him what it would have us do and by a strange liberty makes him partakers of our miseries as we are made partakers of his happiness The last torment of man a sinner is the doubt he hath of his salvation Death is troublesom because the hour thereof is uncertain neither hath he that pronounc'd sentence upon us express'd the time of its execution All moments are to be suspected by us every day may be our last and the accidents that cause our dissolution are so involved in futurity that they daily seize us before we are provided for them Nescit homo utrum amore an odio dignus sit sed omnia in futuruÌ„ servantur incerta Eccl. 9. But our salvation is much more concealed then our death Predestination is much more secret and more important then the end of our life and the alarms so just an apprehension strikes us with are much more lawfull and amazing There is no man that hath read in the Book of the living nor that knows whether his name be written there the whole world trembles at the thought of that irrevocable judgment the Character of Baptism the vocation into the Church the power of working Miracles the love of Enemies the forgetting of Injuries and what-ever is most glorious and most difficult in Religion are no certain proofs of our predestination Fear is alwayes mix'd with hope in our souls the Grace that quickens us may forsake us the example of the Reprobate strikes us with astonishment and after the Treason and Despair of Judas there is no Saint but trembles This is the greatest pain that afflicts Christians Vae miseris nobis qui de electione nostra nullam adhuc Dei vocem cognovimus jam in otio torpemus vae etiam laudabili vitae hominum si remota pictate judicemur Greg. the cruellest punishment that exerciseth their patience the rudest torment that proves their charity Thus would it be an insupportable vexation did not the holy Spirit sweeten it by the inward testimony he witnesseth to our Conscience But he moreover gives us assurances of our salvation he makes us obscurely read over the Book of Life he takes us into that privie-Chamber where the definitive sentence of our Eternity is pronounc'd Ipse Spiritus testimonium reddit spiritui nostro quòd sumus filii Dei Rom. 8. he applyes to us the merits of Jesus Christ and interposes himself the caution of his promises he blots out those mortall discontents which labour to cast us into despair he heightens our hope by a prelibation of glory and handles us with so much tenderness that we have much adoe to beleeve that we can be miserable in the other world having been so happy in this The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the CHRISTIAN's Ingratitude towards the Holy SPIRIT IF that Philosopher had reason to say Nibil in rerum natura tam sacrum quod sacrilegum non inveniat Sen. There was nothing so sacred in Nature that meets not with some sacrilegious person to prophane it Divines may with greater justice affirm There is nothing so holy in Religion that wicked and ungodly men do not dishonour and by their malice desecrate its holyest mysteries The divine Mercy is the source of all Graces were not God mercifull we should be eternally miserable did not he remit the injuries done against him the first offence would cast us into despair and having once lost his grace we could expect nothing but punishments in the mean time his Mercy makes sinners presumptuous in their crimes that which should convert them hardens them and that which promiseth them impunity carryes them for the most part to impenitency The death of Jesus Christ is the last testimony of his love his wounds are so many bleeding mouthes breathing forth this Truth and when we begin to doubt of it we need but consider the streams of blood that issued from his veins In the mean time Positus est in ruinam in resurrectionem mulâ—orum Luc. 7. his death is often the occasion of our fall we perswade our selves that he that could finde in his heart to die for us is too much concern'd in our salvation to destroy us upon this vain hope we abandon our selves to all wickednesse and turn our Antidote into a poyson The holy Sacrament is the highest invention the charity of the Son of God could finde out none but an infinite Wisdome could designe it nor could any but an absolute uncontrolled Power put it in execution both of them are drained in this Mystery and when the Son of God is incarnated upon our Altars to enter into our hearts there is no other favour to be wished for upon earth Neverthelesse experience teacheth us that this Grace is not onely unprofitable Sumunt boni sumunt mali sorte tamen inaequali vitae vel interitus D. Thom. but pernicious to sinners that it conveighes death instead of life mixeth a sacriledge with a sacrifice and makes the devill enter into their soules by admitting Jesus Christ unworthily But not to stand upon the proofe of so known a Truth we need but represent the Grace of the Holy Spirit and the ingratitude of wicked men to be fully perswaded thereof He is the fruitfull source of all the blessings we receive from heaven he is the dispenser of all the merits of the Sonne of God nor can we expect any thing of the one but by the mediation of the other In the mean time we prophane his Graces cast off his Inspirations his goodnesse serves onely to set an edge upon our malice the more favourable he is to us the more rebellious are we against him and the more arts he useth to convert us the more barres do we oppose to resist him we may judge of this by the names he beares and by the attempts he makes to gaine us he gives testimony of his love and affection towards us The Holy Spirit is the Principle of our supernaturall life Spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas ad Creationem pertinet nisi quis renatus fuerit ad regenâ—rationem Faith instructs us that 't is he that frees us from the state of sin to levell us a passage to Grace if we are the effects of his power in the world we are the works of his mercy in the Church so high a favour would challenge as high an acknowledgment so that
being his Creatures under a double Title and he our Principle in Nature and in Grace there is no body but believes we have all the reason in the world to set up his Kingdome in our hearts and carefully to preserve charity whereby he lives in our soules Neverthelesse the Great Apostle of the Gentiles complaines that the faithfull of his time made him dye that they put out the candle of their life and by an ingratitude as great as their blindnesse committed a double murder in one and the same crime He begs their favour towards the holy Spirit and having presented them with the Obligations they owe his infinite goodnesse he conjures them not to choak him in their soules Quench not the Spirit This passage is diversly explain'd Nolite Spiritum extinguere 1 Thes 5. but equally weak'nd by our Interpreters For some are of opinion that Saint Paul made use of this word to quench because the Holy Ghost coming down upon the Apostles in the likenesse of Fire might be put out as fire by our negligence And if the vestall Virgins were guilty of death Vesta nihil aliud quam ignis cui virgines solent servire quod sicut ex virgine ita nihil ex igne nascatur Aug. for suffering the prophane fire committed to their charge to go out the Christians were certainly much more criminall to suffer this holy Fire to dye that kindled all vertues in their hearts and purg'd out all defects and inward defilements Others think it a kind of figurative speech the Apostle makes use of to aggravate the hainousness of the sinne they commit who do all that they can to extinguish the Holy Spirit and endeavour to imitate the cruelty of the Jews will signe their malice by a detestable parricide It seems Saint Augustine was entred into this opinion accusing not the sinner for the death of the holy Spirit but because of the will he had to do it and endeavouring all that was in his power to stifle him that lives and reigns with the Father and the Son from all Eternity But I conceive without doing violence to the words of Saint Paul or at all prejudicing the holy Spirit we may say He suffers death by sin and loseth life when we lose charity For the same Apostle teacheth us Nescitis quia templum Dei estis Spiritus Dei habitat in vâ—bis 1 Cor. 3. that the holy Ghost dwels in us by Grace that he erects an Altar in our heart makes himself a Temple in our soul and lives in us by his vertues All his Epistles speak this language and as often as he treats of the residence of the holy Spirit in our hearts he speaks of it as of a Divine life whereof he is the first Principle so that he lives in us after the same manner as we live in him and these two lives are so closely combined together that one cannot be destroy'd without the other Thus the holy Spirit ceaseth to live in the sinner when the sinner ceaseth to live by the holy Spirit As they have one and the same life so they endure one and the same death and as the sinner loseth life because he loseth Grace that united him to Jesus Christ so the holy Spirit in some sort loseth that life that united him to the Christian by Charity and receives death from him that inflicts it upon himself by sin Therefore is it that the Apostle useth such high terms to make us comprehend the heinousnesse of our crime and describes the death of our soul under that of the holy Spirit to the end that if we are not afraid to commit a simple Murder we may at least be startled from committing a Parricide The second Quality of the holy Spirit is that having been our Principle he will also be our Director and give us motion after he hath indued us with life I will not inlarge this Truth because I have already spoken sufficiently of it and discovered those advantages the Christian may draw from thence It shall suffice to add that Christians are exalted as far above Philosophers as Philosophers are above Beasts For Beasts are led meerly by sense the pleasure that tickles them transports them and what-ever flatters their appetite either in taste or sight overpowers them if they are not with-held by fear or grief Sinners are in no better condition then the Brutes they consult only their sense when they act Homo comparatus est jumentis Considerate vos factos ad Dei imaginem Imago Dei intus est non est in corpore non est in auribus istis eculis sed est factus ubi est intellectus ubi mens ubi ratio investigandae veritatis Aug. in Psa 48. their soul is alwayes the slave of their body neither do they perceive when they engage themselves in the love of pleasure or glory how they do no more then Buls that foam and fight for the enjoyment of a Heifer or to be leaders of the Herd Philosophers are a degree higher then Sinners and taking Reason for their Guide they think they cannot err Rationalc animal est homo consummatur itaque ejus bonum si id adimplevit cui nascitur quid est autem quod ab illo ratio exigit rem facillimam secundum naturam suam vivere Senec. Epist 41. they fancie proud ostentous designes they frame noble Ideas of felicity they call in the Vertues to their aid to compasse it and assisted with Prudence Justice and Fortitude they count themselves as happy and as perfect as God himself Illi Philosophi seculi vitium vitio peccatumque peccato medicantur nos amore virtutum vitia superemus Hieron Epist ad Rust These blind Opinators see not that their Reason is a slave to their Concupiscence that Vain-glory is the foul of their Vertue that thinking to avoid Sensuaality they fall into Arrogance and flying the sins of Men are taken with those of Divels But Christians humbly soaring above Philosophers take the holy Spirit for their Guide they subject their reason to his Inspirations and knowing very well that they cannot be the children of God unlesse they be the organs of his Spirit they undertake nothing but by the motion of his Grace Though this favour make up one of their greatest advantages they fail not sometimes to neglect it and to resist the Conduct of their divine Director They relapse into the condition of Beasts when they obey their senses are restor'd to that of Philosophers Haec est iniquitas cujus non miseretur Deus cum homo defendit quod Deus odit pecâ—atum justitiam asserit ut omnipotenti resistat omnipotens illi Bern. de Conse when they are led by their judgment and become sinners when they resist Grace 'T is from this impiety that all others are derived there is no wickedness a soul is uncapble of when it rejects the impulses of the Spirit neither were the Jews cast
off but because they stop'd their ears against his Oracles 'T is the crime St Stephen accused them of when they stoned him Ye always resist the Holy Ghost and 't is the punishment the Son of God threatens all those with that persevere in their sins The Third Quality of the holy Spirit is that of a Comforter for if our Body revolt against reason he supplyes us with strength to subdue this Rebell if Passions trouble our rest he layes the storms if we are in doubt of our Salvation he gives us assurances and whatever affliction exerciseth our Patience he is our Consolation and our Joy But as concerning the acknowledgment of this Grace we daily afflict him by our insolence and we compell the Successours of the Apostles to reprove us as Saint Paul did Grieve not the holy Spirit This advice which the Doctor of the Gentiles gives us is expressed in terms not easie to be understood For the holy Spirit being God with the Father and the Son is not capable of sadness he enjoyes a happinesse that cannot be disturbed the rebellion of his Subjects can neither shake his Empire nor diminish his felicity what-ever designe is undertaken against him he still remains absolute and his Power which equals his Wisdome makes the malice of his enemies serviceable to the execution of his Will Therefore is it Ira Dei non est ut hominis id est perturbatio concitati animi sed tranquilla justi supplicii constitutio Aug. Trac 124. in Joan. that Divines cannot comprehend the language of St Paul nor conceive how the holy Spirit that is the source of joy can be grieved by sinners Some explain it following the common Rule which placeth the effects of the Passions in God and excludes the imperfections for his Anger takes not away his Tranquillity he punisheth the Rebels of his State without the least commotion nor is he less calm when he punisheth the Divels then when he rewards the Angels But though he act with so much stayedness he makes his thunder roar over the heads of the guilty he makes the earth open under their feet and if these two Elements are not enough to destroy them he obliges the Sea to drown them by his Inundations Others conceive that Saint Paul attributes Grief to the holy Spirit after the same manner he attributes Groans that he more respects his Figure then his Person and considering him in that Dove Gemitus Columbae gemitus Spiritus sancti quia in figura columbae descendit Spiritus in Dominum in the shape whereof he descended upon Jesus Christ he applyes to him the properties of that innocent Bird For every one knowes that the Dove mourns that she hath no other note but sighs and when she is once separated from her mate her lamentation lasts as long as her life But St Augustine resolves this difficulty by the strict union between the Faithfull and the holy Spirit he attributes to him the grief he inspires into them and because the pity they expresse for the lost estate of sinners is an effect of his Grace he ascends to the cause and attributes that to the holy Spirit that he produceth in Christians But how-ever it is we afflict him that comforts us and not acknowledging the good he hath done us we grieve the holy Spirit because we sad the Church whom he inanimates Finally to conclude this Discourse One of the most eminent Qualities of the holy Spirit is that of the Remission of sins his Spouse making his Panegyrick honours him with this Elogie and Divinity teacheth us that he it is that prepares the Will of the ungodly that manageth their Consent by the endearments of his Grace and reconciles them to the Father by the merits of the Son which he applyes to them Thence is it that he presides in the work of Repentance that the Priests who absolve the guilty are his Ministers and the sorrow that blots out sin is an effect of his Mercy Ad ipsum pertinet societas qua efficimur unum corpus unici Filii Dei Aug. in Ser. de Blasph Spir. In the mean time we offend him that pardons us his indulgence makes us insolent and the easiness wherewith he receiveth Penitents encreaseth the number of Delinquents All the sins we commit check these Divine perfections and by the least of our offences we violate all his personall Proprieties He is the Unity of the Father and of the Son because he is that sacred bond that joyns them eternally together and Sin is an unhappy division that divorceth Man from God the body from the soul Peccatum origo mali nec sine peccato aliquid in natura malum est Aug. the Husband from the Wife The holy Spirit is Goodness because he proceeds by the way of Love and all the effects that bear the mark of that divine perfection are particularly attributed to him Sin is nothing but malice in the essence of it the Creature may be weak and ignorant by nature Sanctitas est ab omni inquinatione libera incontaminatissema et perfectissima puritas quae fine Spiritu saucto intelligi non potest in creatura S. Dyonis but he cannot be bad but by sin what-ever bears that shameful character takes its origination thence and men and Angels would be exempt from Malice were they exempt from Sin The holy Spirit is stiled Holy not onely because he sanctifies all Creatures but because being the Spirit of the Father and of the Son who are both holy it concern'd him to bear a name common to both and which may delineate forth the admirable secrets of his eternall Procession Sin is so opposite to Holiness that we cannot better define it then by its contrariety to this divine Perfection For sanctity separates us from the Creatures and unites us so mightily to the Creator that nothing can disjoyn us on the contrary Sin is nothing else but a being wedded to the Creatures and an unhappy separation from the Creator so that it thwarts all the personal Proprieties of the holy Spirit and renders men unworthy of all the Favours they have received from him Let us therefore combate this Enemy of Grace Quicquid fecit Christus ut destrueret peccatum fecit ita debet facere Christianus cui nullus hostis est praeter peccatum Chrys make warr against him that makes it against God let us shake off the yoak of this Tyrant that flatters onely to destroy us and acknowledging the obligations we have to the holy Spirit submit our selves to his divine qualities Seeing he gives us Life by Grace let not us make him die together with it seeing he is our Director let us yeeld obedience to his Ordinances since he is our Consolation in our discontents let us not grieve him in his just Ones and seeing he is the Remission of sins let us bewail those we have committed to give him satisfaction and commit no new ones further to
the heat of self-love makes in our souls In which respect 't is certainly the truth of the Tree of Life and the accomplishment of that figure For though Innocent Man had other meats besides that and excepting the forbidden fruit all others that Paradise afforded were allowed him yet was he obliged to take of this from time to time as a medicine which the mercy of God had prepared for him to defend him against the Natural heat which insensibly wasted him Whence it is easie to infer that in the state of Innocence the body of man was composed of parts that could not agree That fire which makes man live devoured the radical moisture on which it feeds and though he daily took in nourishment which being much purer then ours might preserve life much longer yet had he need of an extraordinary diet which might repair the ruines the natural heat made in his body and Divines Providence which never abandons that sinner provided the Tree of Life for Innocent Man to defend him against the internal enemy who had insensibly brought him to death by means of old age and consumption Thus may we say that the body of the Son of God shields us against that forain heat Concupiscentia carnis in Baptismo dimittitur non ut non sit sed ut non obsit non imput tur Aug. lib. de Nup. Concup cap. 25. which setting upon the warmth of Charity threatens the Christian with death For though Concupiscence since Baptism be no longer sin and if sometimes they give it this name 't is because it is the principal effect yet is she not idle in our souls she makes strange progresses when her fury is not stopt she makes use of all occasions that are offered and holding under her command the passions and the senses she endeavours by their mediation to enslave the understanding and the will Though never so weak and langnishing in Christians she hath still vigour enough to engage them in sin if their reason assisted with grace continually oppose not her designs The little remainder there is makes them they cannot live secure and as long as they nourish the least degree of self-love there is no crime whereof they have not the seeds in them What the Son of God hath said of the grain of Mustard seed which is so small at first and so prodigious in the progress is not comparable to Concupiscence whose least sparks are able to kindle mighty conflagrations which only the Grace of Jesus Christ can extinguish Indeed his Body the noblest Organ of his Spirit moderates daily these heats in the Eucharist smothers the flames Concupiscence stirs up to consume us he gives beeing to that vertue that fight obscenity weakens that strange burning which glows against divine heat without which a Christian cannot live He produceth two contrary effects which manifests his power to be infinite For by kindling one fire he quencheth another and warming us with his own love happily delivers us from that of self 'T is a a wonderful Wine which contrary to the nature of ordinary wine bears Virgins and renders them pure thereby to render them pregnant in Vertues Finally 't is a Bread of Life that nourisheth soul and body carrying vigour into the one and light into the other to the end that preserving the whole man it may be his food in health and his remedy in sickness Having contrary to the Laws of Physick cured him contrary to the Laws of Nature it endeavours to make him young For Religion more powerful then the Fable hath found out a secret to renue the Christians youth in the Eucharist and to discover in Mysteries what it made us believe in Types and Figures Indeed all the Fathers are of opinion that the Tree of Life defended man from old age and preserved him from that languishing consumption which disposed him insensibly to his death if common fruits could preserve his life they were unable to maintain his vigour Though they had all the purity Innocent Nature could furnish her works with yet in repairing mans strength they had not restored that freshness which accompanies youth To secure himself from that mischief which had not respected his Innocence he was obliged to have recourse to the Tree of Life and from time to time to take an agreeable Physick which being no way distasteful restored him his primitive vigour and re-instated him in that flourishing age he was at first created in It is true that as Prudence was natural to him he never expected length of days to impair his beauty nor that old-age should print wrinkles upon his face he made such seasonable use of this remedy that the freshness of his complexion never faded The Roses and the Lilies were always mingled on his cheeks age and deformity never seized a body whose soul was exempt from sin and the fruit of the Tree of Life seconding his ordinary food maintained him in a vigorous constitution which was afraid neither of Sickness nor Weakness In this happie state Man had the advantages of the Aged and not their imperfections his Reason without the tedious trouble of Experience was furnished with all Lights requisite to conduct him he had no need to enfeeble his body to fortifie his minde but both the parts that composed him being equally innocent he had no occasion to wish that age might weaken the one to make it more obedient nor strengthen the other to render it more absolute Thus the fruit of the Tree of Life maintained Man in Youth and Innocence and these two inseparable qualities combating Old-age and Sin made him spend his life happily and holily Although Christians have not this advantage upon the earth and that their body being still the slave of Concupiscence cannot avoid the infirmities incident to old-age yet in their souls they fail not to enjoy the priviledges of Innocence they finde in the holy Sacrament what Adam found in the Tree of Life they receive a new vigour in the Eucharist their souls grow young as often as they approach to Jesus Christ when like Eagles they soar as high as this Sun lodg'd in a cloud they are astonished that in the infirmity of their flesh their spirit is renewed and that the outward man falling to decay by yeers and penance the inward man recruits by the heavenly meat he feeds upon This Miracle passeth sometimes from the soul to the body yet there have been some holy persons who taking no other sustenance but what is offered upon our Altars have lived many yeers Many times this Nutriment hath imprinted its qualities upon their bodies and darting forth certain rays of Grace upon their countenances communicated to them a part of that beauty which the blessed spirits shall possess Post primā caenam it a similes evascrunt Christodiscipuli ejus ut vix ab illo possent discerni Chrys S. John Chrysostome was of opinion that the Apostles participated of this priviledge in their
what I intend to those that shall take so much pains as to peruse it I will lay down a plain and easie Scheme which shall present you with a short prospect of the whole Christian Man I begin the first Treatise with his Birth which as it is the fruitful source of all the Allyances he contracts with God I cannot speak of it soundly and to the purpose without discovering some of his Qualities and letting you see that assoon as he is regenerated he is the adopted child of the eternal Father because he is the Temple of the holy Ghost and the Brother of the Word Incarnate To this I add some other Priviledges concomitants of his Baptism all which declare the misery he hath avoided and the happiness he hath obtain'd From thence I passe to the second Treatise which represents the Spirit of the Christian and which comprehends all the obligations we have to follow his motions to act according to his orders and to obey his inspirations because none are truly the children of God but those that are quickned by his Spirit Quicunque enim Spiritu Dei aguntur ii sunt Filii Dei Rom. 8. And because the Christian is but a part of a mystical Body whereof there is a Head to guide it as wel as a Spirit to enliven it in the third Treatise I describe the neer relations and close connexions this glorious quality communicates to him with Iesus Christ the advantages he receives from thence and the just duties he is obliged to return to this adored Head The fourth Treatise discovers all the secrets of Grace which seem to be nothing else but a sacred chain uniting the Christian with the son of God and with the Holy Ghost and putting him at their disposal to be conducted safely in the way of Salvation The vertues that flow from Grace as streams do from their fountain are the subject of the fifth Treatise demonstrating a new Morality which the Philosophers were ignorant of and which severing man from himself fastens him happily to his Principle Forasmuch as he lives by Grace and vertues in the sixth Treatise I set before him a heavenly Nourishment that preserves his life and withall affords him some pledges of Immortality But because this food is also a Victime speaking of his Nourishment I speak of his Sacrifice and I lay down the just Reasons the Christian hath to offer up himself to God with Iesus Christ In the seventh Treatise I discourse of his glorious Qualities which I had not touched in the former wherein I make it appear that being the Image of the Son of God he is also a Priest and a Sacrifice a Souldier and a Conqueror a Slave and a Soveraign a Penitent and an Innocent Lastly to compleat the Christian who is but rudely drawn in Baptism who as long as he is upon earth is always imperfect I lead him to Glory where finding his Happiness in the knowledge and love of the supreme Good he is happily transformed into God There he patiently waits for the resurrection of his Body that the two parts whereof he is composed being reunited there may be nothing wanting to the perfection of his happiness and that both Soul and Body being freed from the bondage of sin he may reign for ever with the Angels in Heaven Thus you see in a few words the drift and scope of the whole Work where if I have repeated something that I formerly delivered in the Guilty Man it is because the Cure depends upon the Disease Subjects are illustrated by their contraries and it is impossible to conceive the Advantages of Grace without comprehending all the Miseries of Sin A TABLE OF THE TREATISES DISCOURSES The First TREATISE Of the Christian's Birth Disc 1. That the Christian hath a double Birth page 1 Disc 2. That Man must be renewed to make a Christian of him page 6 Disc 3. That the principal Mysteries of Iesus Christ are applyed to the Christian in his Birth page 10 Disc 4. That Grace is communicated to the Christian in his Birth as Sin is communicated to Man in his Generation page 15 Disc 5 Of the Resemblances that are found between the Generation of Iesus Christ and that of a Christian page 19 Disc 6 Of the Adoption of Christians and the advantage it hath above the Adoption of Men. page 24 Disc 7 Of the Allyances the Christian contracts in his Birth with the Divine Persons page 29 Disc 8 Of the Principal Effects Baptism produceth in the Christian page 34 Disc 9 Of the obligation of a Christian as the consequence of his Birth page 39 Disc 10 That the Regeneration of a Christian takes not from him all that he drew from his first Generation page 43 The Second TREATISE Of the Spirit of a Christian Disc 1. That every Body hath its Head and what that of the Church is 48 Disc 2 That the Holy Ghost is the Heart of the Church 53 Disc 3 That the Holy Ghost is in a sort the same to Christians that he is to the Father and to the Son in Eternity 57 Disc 4 That the Holy Ghost seems to be the same to Christians that he is to the Son of God 62 Disc 5 That the Presence of the Holy Ghost giveth life to the Christian and his Absence causeth Death 67 Disc 6 That the Holy Ghost teacheth Christians to pray 72 Disc 7 That the Holy Ghost remits the sins of the Christian 77 Disc 8 That the Christian in his infirmities is assisted by the strength of the Holy Ghost 83 Disc 9 That the Holy Ghost is the Christians Comforter 89 Disc 10 Of the Christians ingratitude toward the Holy Ghost 94 The third TREATISE Of the Christian 's Head Disc 1 That the Christian hath two Heads Adam and Iesus Christ 100 Disc 2 Of the Excellencies of the Christian's Head and the advantages they draw from thence 105 Disc 3 Of the strict Union of the Head with his Members and of that of Iesus Christ with Christians 110 Disc 4 That the Union of Christians with their Head is an Imitation of the Hypostatical Union 115 Disc 5 That Iesus Christ treateth his Mystical Body with as much charity as he doth his Natural Body 120 Disc 6 That the Church is the Spouse of Iesus Christ because she is the Body and of the community of their Marriage 125 Disc 7 That the Quality of the Members of Iesus Christ is more advantageous then that of the Bretbren of Iesus Christ 130 Disc 8 That Iesus Christ hath taken all his Infirmities from his Members and that his Members derive all their strength from him 134 Disc 9 Of the duties of Christians as Members towards Iesus Christ as their Head 139 Disc 10 That all things are common among Christians as between members of the same Body 144 The fourth TREATISE Of the Grace of a Christian Disc 1 That Predestination which is the source of Grace is a hidden Mystery 150 Disc 2 Of the
mistrust their merit They neither apprehended the greatness of the danger that was threatned nor the cruelty of the Tyrant that condemned them to death nor the fury of the Executioners that searched them out to massacre them their happiness was as unknown to them as their misery they were ignorant that they suffered for Jesus Christ that in their person they sought for Him and that receiving the stabs of the ponyard thrust at their heart they had this double honour to die for their Saviour and by yeelding up their own life to secure his Neverthelesse all the Fathers of the Church confess that their Martyrdome was true that the power of God supplyed their weakness that his grace prevented their will and that their sacrifice fayl'd not to be meritorious though it was not voluntary Amongst all those that have been their Advocates there is none hath pleaded their cause with more Eloquence then St Bernard his Reasons and his Words are equally powerfull and it seems that preserving the glory of their Martyrdom his designe was to preserve that of their Baptism Si quaeric corum apud Deum merita ut coronarentur quaere apud Herodem crimina ut occiderentur An forte minor Christi Pietas quà m Herodis impietas ut ille quidem potuit innoxios neci dare Christus non potuerit propter se occisos coronare Bern. de natal Inn. If you ask saith he what desert they had in the sight of God to merit a Crown ask what their crime was against Herod that deserved such a butchery shall the Piety of the Son of God be less powerful then the Impiety of Herod Shall the Tyrant be able to massacre Innocents and their Saviour not able to crown their sufferings Their Martyrdom exalteth the mercy of Jesus Christ and their example teacheth us that as good desires without works are sometimes recompensed in men works without desires may be recompensed in children If we doubt of their Martyrdom Ille pro Christo trucidatos Infantes dubitet inter Martyres coronari qui regeneratos in Christo non credit inter adoptionis silios numerari Idem ibid. as the same Father goes on we must doubt of the salvation of all those that are baptized and if we beleeve that Baptism sanctifies Infants though they cannot speak we must beleeve that Martyrdom consecrates these though they cannot expresse themselves After this example we need not think it strange that the Eternal Father acknowledgeth those for his Children whom the Son acknowledgeth for his Brethren nor doubt that imitating his Justice he saves by borrowed merits those he had condemned for accessory crimes But one of the most remarkable resemblances between our Recovery and our Fall is that both of them began by the Body For though this be lesse guilty then the soul neither did the corporal revolt sollicite our first Father to sin yet is it the pipe through which his offence passeth into the essence of his posterity Certum tenemus quia caro contracta de carne per legem concupiscentiae quam cito vivificatur originalis culpae vinculo premitur cjusque affectionibus anima quae carnem vivificat aggravatur sub hoc peccati vinculo demerguntur parvuli qui sine remedio baptismi moriuntur Habent enim originale peccatum non per animam sed per carnem utique contractum animaeque infusum carni namque ita unitur anima ut cum carne fit una persona Aug. lib. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. if they were not a part of his flesh they should inherit neither his sin nor his punishment and if concupiscence were fully extinguished by grace Generation would not be criminal Man is not faulty in his conception but because he is cloathed with Adam's flesh 't is by means of it that sin overspreads the soul for issuing from the hands of God 't is stain'd with no impurity but no sooner is it united to the body but it becomes guilty their marriage begets sin and having quickned that unhappy moity it enters into its imperfections and disorders it begins to affect terrestriall things it dwels upon perishable goods and is at a distance from eternall ones lest it should sad the Body it readily complyes with all its desires and as if it were become corporeal it longs for those objects that please and entertain the senses Though it be not carried yet by deliberation this way 't is by inclination and though it offend not willingly we may say it does naturally and that the privation of Grace joyned to its union with the body is the source of its transgression and misery In this point the Regeneration of the Christian holds so full a proportion with the Generation of the Man that the one is as well the proof as the Image of the other Quaeris in parvulis culpam invenis ex carne traductam Quaeris in eis gratiam invenis à Deo collatam Aug. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. For Grace though spiritual enters not into the soul but by the mediation of the body The Sacraments that dispense it communicate not their vertue to the Spirit till they have first imparted it to the flesh God is pleased to imitate his enemie and following his steps he cures the noblest part of man by the more ignoble Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur caro ungitur ut anima consecretur caro corpore sanguine Christi vescitur ut anima saginetur Tert. de resurâ—ect carnis The spirit of the Christian Champions is not strengthened in Confirmation till the holy oyl is sprinkled on their fore-head Their soul to use Tertullian's expressions is not fatted with the Eucharist till it receives the body and bloud of Christ by their mouth nor is their spirit purified in Baptism but when their body is dipt in water The Remedy is symbolicall to the nature of the disease 't is affix'd to the prime delinquent and this maxime admits of no contradiction that the soul is uncapable of being healed assoon as it is separated from the flesh It seems the divine Justice will have Grace enter by the same passage into the soul that Sin did Nulla omnino anima salutem potest adipisci ni dum in carne est Id. Ib. and that the flesh should be the Christians ligament to Jesus Christ as well as the sinners to his first Progenitor Neither truly is it harder to conceive one then the other for as grace is insinuated into the soul by Baptisme of an offendor making an Innocent despoiling us of Adam and putting us on Jesus Christ ' Anima in corpore tanquam in vitiato vase corrumpitur ubi occulta justitia divinae legis includitur Aug. and finally passeth from our body into the Essence of that part that inanimates us so also may we easily comprehend that concupiscence is the conduit of sin that the miseries of the flesh make an Impression upon the spirit that this is
a very noble Allyance yet we may say it relates not to God in his Persons but in his Essence For all the perfections Man received in his Creation are but the droppings of the perfections of God His Power expresseth that of his Creator his Liberty is an emanation of that Being which is as free as it is necessary his Reason is a product of the first primitive Reason and all the other qualities that raise him above the rest of Creatures are rather images of the Unity of God then of the Plurality of his Persons Nay the very Angels which are of nobler extraction then Man seem not allyed to the divine Persons Every one of their * Cernere est in Seraphin quomodo amet qui unde amet non habet cernere est in Cherubin Deum scientiarum qui solam nesciat ignorantiam cernere est in Thronis judicantis aequitatem nec vacat sessio tranquillitatis insigne est Bern. lib. 5. de Consid cap. 4. Orders respect some one of the perfections of their Creator The Seraphims express his Love the Cherubins his Light the Thrones his Rest The Hierarchies lead us not to the Trinity or if they give us some umbrages thereof they deliver no exact knowledge We see nothing in these blessed Spirits that discovers to us the Generation of the Word or the Procession of the Holy Ghost and having well considered them there is nothing we admire in them but the Goodness or the Power the Greatness or the Majesty of him that created them All their Allyances as wel as those of Men are terminated in the divine Essence and pass not to the Trinity of the Persons They are rather Servants then Sons or if they are Sons their Adoption is not * Nusquam enim Angelos apprchendis sed semen Abrahae apprehendit Heb. 2. founded upon the Mystery of the Incarnation This glory was reserved for Christians who at the moment of their Nativity have the honour to be allyed to all the Persons of the Trinity The Son loves them as his Brethren the Father adopts them as his children and the Holy Ghost quickens them as his Temples therefore are they baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Their Birth consecrates them to this ineffable mystery and from the time they receive the Being of Grace they bear the Character of the Trinity The Son began this Allyance by the Mystery of the Incarnation he was made Man to make us his Members he hath united us in his Person by such a neer combination that his advantages become ours and our transgressions become his Every thing is common to us with him and giving his Person to our Nature there is no Greatness he hath not communicated to us our Grace is an effusion flowing from his our Birth is an image of his eternall Generation Gratia nihil est aliud quà m participatio divinae filiationis secundùm Divum Thomam and if we beleeve the Master of the School our Adoption is a copy of his divine filiation Finally to express so high a Verity in a more noble Elogie Every Christian seems to be a second Jesus Christ every beleever is a son of God and as they are happily blended with the Word Incarnate they may boast themselves as he is Men-Gods 'T is on this occasion Love makes his power appear that of many persons mutually affecting one another he makes but one that he makes greatness bow and sets humility on high that he transforms God into Man to transform Man into God and surmounting all obstacles that oppose this Union constitutes Jesus Christ the Head of Christians and Christians the Members of Jesus Christ Now 't is in Baptism that they obtain this honour for albeit the Son of God is united to our Nature in the Mystery of the Incarnation and that there this eternal affinity was contracted which death cannot dissolve we are not engraffed upon his Person but by Baptism till we are bathed in this Laver we have nothing but the miseries of Adam nor any part in the merits of Jesus Christ 'T is by the vertue of this †Nemo fit membrum Christi nisi aut Baptismate in Christo aut morte pro Christo Aug. lib. 1. de anima Sacrament that we enter into society with him 't is there that putting off the old man we put on the new and beginning to be united to the Son of God we participate of his divine qualities From this time the Christian is a new creature he receives the Spirit of Jesus Christ without changing his nature he changeth his condition though he hath yet but the seeds of glory he hath notwithstanding the rights of a Son and looks upon the Kingdom of heaven as his inheritance The grace of Jesus Christ blots out all his sins of a slave he becoms a child of an object of wrath he becoms an object of love and big with the merits of his Head he hopes one day to reign with him in glory By a necessary consequence he enters into an Allyance with the Father Everlasting not considering the meanness of his Extraction nor the misery of his Original he treats with God as with his own Father he makes use of those amorous terms the Church puts in his mouth and without losing the respect of a servant he enters into the liberty of a child Grace fastens so strict a union betwixt them that nothing but sin can divide them as it is an emanation of the divine Sonship it is not a bare Adoption and if it bear this name 't is because we have no other to expresse its excellence by But to comprehend rightly this Allyance is as true as that which flesh and blood entitles us to with our Fathers and Mothers if this be founded in Nature that is founded in Grace if this be sensible that is spiritual if this be close that is more intimate neither is the quality of children in Christians a meer denomination as 't is in those that humanely are adopted We are the images of our Father in the donation of Grace we participate of his nature and as it is true according to the saying of St Peter that by grace we are God's so is it certain that by the same grace we are the children of God All the trouble in this Alliance is that it depends upon our Liberty for its preservation we have the power to dissolve it there needs but one act of our will to break the Association and though the chains that entertain it are stronger and more precious then those of Diamond one mortall sin is able to dash them all in pieces there is nothing but Glory that unites us inseparably with God as long as we live upon the earth we are divided between hope and fear and if the greatness of Allyance makes us joyful it 's frailty causeth us to be apprehensive and fearful As long as it lasts it
the mutuall gift of Men to God and of God to Men. But that which surpasseth all belief He is so absolutely in our disposall that the faithfull communicate him to others The Priests are not onely the Ministers but the Principles thereof they produce him by their word as they do Jesus Christ neither are there any Sacraments in the Church which are not so many channels by which they powre forth the Holy Ghost into the souls of Christians Nay many times they that have him not themselves impart him to others being poor they make others rich and having not the grace they notwithstanding communicate the source for though they lose their sanctity they lose not their power and as it is founded in their Character which can never be obliterated they have alwayes the right to give the Holy Ghost and to remit sins But because I intend to make a particular Treatise of the Spirit of the Christian I shall reserve my larger Discourse of the Allyances we have with him for that place and conclude the present subject with those words of St Leo That the Beleever is obliged to acknowledge the advantages he hath received from Jesus Christ in his Birth by no means to degenerate from his Nobility and to think he ought no more absolutely to dispose of himself seeing he hath the honour to be the Son of the Eternall Father the Brother of Jesus Christ and the Temple of the Holy Ghost The Eighth DISCOURSE Of the principall Effects Baptism produceth in the CHRISTIAN FOrasmuch as Effects are the images of their Causes we never judge better of the power of these then by the greatness of those A great Effect leads alwayes on to a great Cause and this Maxime is as true in Grace as in Nature For if God sometime make use of a weak Instrument to produce a miracle Aliud est enim baptizare per ministerium aliud per potestatem Baptisma enim tale est qualis est ille in cujus potestate datur nō qualis est ille per cujus ministerium datur Aug. Tr. 5. in Joann he raiseth the puissance thereof and by himself supplyes what infirmity would sink under Thence it comes to pass that the Fathers of the Church attribute to Jesus Christ all the effects of Baptism teaching us that 't is neither the vertue of the Water nor the merit of the Minister though both are requisite that justifie the Christian God reserves to himself the glory to act in this Sacrament He it is that baptiseth by the hand of his servants and without having respect to their deserts worketh grace by a Divel as well as by an Angel Wherefore we need not wonder that so common an element produceth such rare effects seeing 't is in his hands who of nothing was able to create all things These effects are almost infinite their number aswell as their greatness astonish us and to observe them well we had need be illuminated by his light whose works they are Nolite contristare Spiritum sanctum in quo signati estis Ephes 4. The most part of Divines are of opinion that the impression of the character is the first effect for he that is baptised wears the Livery of his Soveraigne he is marked with his Seale and from the time of his Baptism there is formed in the essence of his soul a Character that neither Time nor Eternity can blot out He carries it with him to heaven for his glory into hell for his confusion and that which was a mark of his allyance with God becoms a mark of his rebellion against God Men make their slaves wear upon their garments visible Badges of their vassallage and there are some so cruel as to stigmatize their very faces The Divel who is Gods Ape engraves his Character upon the bodies of those miserable wretches that serve him and if we beleeve the report of the Magicians and the experience of the Judges that have examined them there are not any Witches who bear not the shamefull marks of their abominable servitude This proud Spirit imitates his Soveraign as far as his weaknesse will give him leave and he is ravished that the creature who hath given himself to him witnesseth his fidelity by an external and visible impresse since he cannot act in the souls of men he is content to act upon their bodies and he is satisfied when upon the works of the Creator may be seen some characters of his Tyranny But God who is absolute in his State acts upon the souls aswell as upon the bodies and at the same time that the Ministers sprinkle the water of Baptisme upon the body of the Neophytes he imprints an eternall character in their souls This first effect is followed with another to wit the Infusion of Grace for assoon as the words that consecrate us are pronounced the holy Spirit enters into our hearts and there produceth that divine quality which renders us the children of God We know not whether it be equall in all those that are baptised Some are of opinion that the disposition of those that are at age augments or diminisheth it and according as they have more or lesse actuall love they receive more or lesse habituall Grace Some others pass the same judgment upon Infants and are perswaded that the designe of God upon their souls makes the difference of their Graces and that those who are destin'd to the highest degrees of Glory receive also at their baptism a higher degree of Grace This question being not yet resolved every one may abound in his own sense though it seem that as every man equally sinned in Adam every Christian is equally regenerated in Jesus Christ But I conceive our Fall and our Restauration are two Abysses that cannot be sounded and that the example alledged for confirmation of the first is as much conceal'd as the Truth they would thence elicite and extract Therefore not confining our selves to any one of these opinions 't is better to confess our ignorance and acknowledge there are secrets in the order of Grace aswell as in that of Nature which the spirit of man can by no means discover The third Effect of Baptism is the restitution of the Innocence we lost in Paradise Every one explains it according to the conceit he hath of it and there are store of Divines who imagine that man by the vertue of Baptism re-enters into all the advantages of Adam that his will recovers its Perfect freedom his understanding its light and every faculty of the soul is re-established in its primitive vigour and activity But certainly experience gives this opinion sufficiently the lye seeing every day the faithful to their cost finde that their will is a slave to concupiscence and if the assistance of Jesus Christ give them not the mastery there is no temptation but would engage them in a sin Indeed though we should affirm that habitual grace restores us with advantage what-ever Adam despoyl'd us
Channel through which Providence conveighs its vertue upon the Creatures The Sun is the Throne where God sits in state and where he acts with more force 'T is by meanes of this glorious Starre that he produceth the rarest wonders of nature and from the very moment that he drew all things out of nothing he never appeares in the production of any visible Creatures but he makes use of his light or heat His Ecilpses are dreadful to the Universe he never suspends his influences but Nature suffers by it and his course is so necessary to the constitution of the World that a moment of rest would be able to destroy it Though this great body of Light have so absolute a superintendency over all Creatures yet doe I not believe that the Christians hold of his Empire though he enlighten them with his beams warm them with his heat and entertain their life with his motion yet am I of opinion there is a particular providence that governs them Dominus custodit te Dominus protectio tua per diem Sol non uret te nâ—que Luna per noctem Psal 120. that their occurrences are regulated by another sun neither is it in the power of Astrologers to discover the adventures of the faithfull In that they are the members of Jesus Christ their happiness is affix'd to his person their predestination is included in his and we must understand the secrets of the Apocalypse to divine their good or bad fortune The divel himself though never so subtil cannot penetrate this depth if he have some conjectures for the future they prove false in what concernes Christians the Grace that includes them blindes him and as the heavenly Light strikes his spirit with obscurity he is altogether unacquainted with the wayes by which providence happily conducts them to their end Therfore is it that Astrologers are never so much at a loss as when they pretend to judge of the fortune of Believers by the rules of Astrology they must dive into the minde of the eternal Father to understand his thoughts concerning the members of his Son and less then to be admitted into his Cabinet where the unchangeable designes of his predestination are contrived cannot inable them to foresee the smallest accidents of their life If the sanctity of their Condition cloud them from the curiosity of Astrologers it moreover protects them from the fury of Divels For though these wretched spirits are called by scripture the Princes of the World and the divine Justice suffers them to employ the Elements to content their fury yet have they no power over the faithfull All their rage turns to our profit they are serviceable even while they persecute Their notable attempts which testifie their power aswell as their hatred contribute greatly to our merit The Divine Providence that regulates all their motions makes use of them to our glory and wee learn by experience That nothing can hurt those that love GOD because they are beloved of him Thence ariseth that profound tranquillity which Christians enjoy For as they know nothing happens in the world but according to the order and disposall of their Soveraigne that the fury of their Enemies is subject to his Providence that the Divels execute his Will that the Elements serve his Justice or his Mercy they look upon all Accidents with a Holy indifferency they embrace Life and Death Honour and Dishonour Pleasure and Pain with one and the same disposition of spirit and knowing very well that they are the members of Jesus Christ they count it not strange that his Father makes them climbe up to honour by affronts and to felicity by persecution The Ninth DISCOURSE Of the Obligations of Christians in pursuance of their Birth INdependency is so natural to God that some Philosophers have doubted whether he could be ingaged by his promises But me thinks to preserve his Independency they would take away his Veracity and that they might make him an absolute Soveraign goe about to render him an unfaithfull one The perfections of God never clash one against another and those that seem to have some contrarietie in the creatures preserve a peacefull harmonie without loosing their differences in the Creator He is absolute in his power and faithfull in his promises he is subject to those Laws he himself prescribes and he respects his own Orders without infringing his Supremacy Seneca who had only naturall reason for his light judged that obedience did not at all injure the Soveraignty of God Ille ipse omnium conditor ac rector scripsit quidem fata sed sequitur semper paret semel jussit Senec. de prov c. 5. and that observing the ordinances he had set from all eternity hee obeyed alwaies and commanded but once David acknowledged fidelity in God as well as Independency and though he knew that all his graces were mercies he forbeares not to exact from him the effects of his promises and to conjure him upon the truth of his Word God is faithfull in all his words Wherefore I conceive I shall no waies wrong the Almighty if I say that he treates with the Christian in Baptisme That he imposes Laws upon himself which he never revokes and obliges himself to conditions which he inviolably keeps He receives the sinner into favour signes him the pardon of his sin invests him with the merits of his Son and promiseth all things necessary for his preservation in this new condition I cannot imagine that this Peace is but a Truce that there are any Christians to whom God does not sincerely and really remit originall sin Crâ—dentes in Christum per lavacrum regenerationis soluto reatu omnium peccatorum originalis quod generatio trahit liberantur à damnationc perpetua vivunt in fide spe charitate peregrinantes in hoc saeculo Aug. tract 124. in Joan. His goodness gives mee not leave to passe this judgement upon his justice and though I know that he performes an Act of Grace to a Delinquent in Baptisme I believe that considering him in the person of his Son he refuses him not those graces which so holy an alliance seem to require if he condemn them 't is not for the sin which is blotted out and if God be deficient to the Laws of this Treaty 't is because the Christian hath first broken the Covenant The gifts of God are without repentance he deserts none but those that forsake him and were we true to his grace he would never dispense with his promises The unchangeable Laws of Predestination clash not at all with this Maxime and at that instant when he resolved to leave the Reprobate in the masse of Perdition he saw their sins as well as those of Adam 'T is upon these that he rests when he refuses them Grace and had they made good use of that they received I cannot beleeve he would have abandoned them Si gratia dicitur gratis datur si operibus additur
experience that its subjects are so mutinous that they cannot be brought in subjection They are rather tired then overcome and at the very instant they seem to submit to Grace they listen to Concupiscence and taking new courage from this rebel-lust they set upon their Soveraign afresh Thus our whole life is a continual Warfare we begin at our Baptism and we end not till our Death This is it that S. Cyprian expresseth so handsomely in his Treatise of the Deluge where speaking to the Neophytes he says You are baptized you have the honour to bear the character of Jesus Christ you have been admitted to his Table and his Flesh hath served for nourishment Take notice how this new kinde of life engages you in a combat where you must grapple with the whole family of sins If you overcome Covetousness Lust will set upon you if you foil Lust Ambition steps in its place and joyning craft to violence endeavours to perswade us that all his designes are reasonable If you master this combatant Envie Anger Drunkenness accompanied with their partisans will presently draw into a body to destroy you Therefore doth S. Augustine compare the condition of newly-converted Christians to that of the Jews when they went out of Egypt They saith he were delivered by Moses these are delivered by Jesus Christ they passed thorow the red Sea these pass thorow Baptism they saw all their enemies dead upon the shore these see all their sins drowned in the waters But remember my brethren that the Jews having passed the Red-sea were not suddenly landed in Palestine the wilderness and desarts exercised their patience hunger and thirst oppressed them a long time fiery serpents persecuted them and a thousand strange nations opposing their passage made them stand to their arms to defend themselves Thus the Christians spend their life in conflicts and finde the world a horrid desart where a hundred several monsters serve as trials of their courage and exercises of their vertue They sigh after their dear Country they long to reign with Jesus Christ but disciplined by these precedent Types and Figures they are taught that to arrive to his Triumphs they must share in his Combats Therefore ought they not to think it strange though being brethren of Jesus Christ and children of their heavenly Father they yet enjoy not their inheritance and if while they are on the earth treated like slaves or enemies they still feel the revolt of the Creatures the persecution of Satan the War of those two parts whereof they are composed Let us profit by these Examples and remember that if Heaven be our Inheritance 't is also our Recompence if we be Children we are also Souldiers and if God be Good enough to prevent our Deserts he is Just enough to require our Good Works The Tenth DISCOURSE The Regeneration of a Christian takes not away all that he drew from his first Generation AS Grace and Nature proceed from one and the same Principle Erat Deus in Angelis in prâ—â— homine naturä condens largiens gratiam Aug. they have in their differences certain wonderful resemblances which cannot be considered without ravishment They act both together and though sin have divided them yet does not Grace forbear to make use of Nature in its highest operations Their designes are alike onely they seek after God by diverse ways but Grace hath this advantage over Nature that it never wanders They have one and the same End as they have one and the same Beginning and when they seem to contest their onely designe is to make Man happie Both of them are admirable in their Variety Nature puts as many differences in mens Mindes as in their Countenances and though all faces have the same parts yet she ranks them with so much artifice that there appears a diversity in their very likeness Grace is not inferiour to Nature in this advantage all its productions are different and though the Saints are quickned with the same Spirit the Church recording their Panegyrick instructs us that they are singular in their species But one of their greatest resemblances is that Nature is flowe in her operations she brings not her works to pass without much labour and time one grain of Corn costs her a whole yeer and she needs the several Seasons to bring it to a perfect maturity Flowers that are not so useful as Fruits stand her not in less time and to give them their Colour and their Smell Winter and Spring are requisite Grace is yet more slowe then Nature for whether it finde resistance in its designes or labour in more difficult undertakings it perfects not but in Eternity what it begins in Time There remains something still to be reformed in the Creature and whatever excellency of endeavour it bestows upon the greatest Saints it continually meets with some disorders to be regulated some sin to be corrected some inclinations to be vanquished Thence it comes to pass that in Baptism where it gives life to the Christian it acts with so much weakness that wiping away the stain of sin it leaves notwithstanding Concupiscence there still For though by the vertue of this Sacrament we become new creatures that Adam dies and Jesus Christ is born in us yet are we but rude draughts unpolished works expecting their perfection from time and travel We are saith one Apostle but the embryo of a new creature and we bear the denomination of Children by reason of our Weakness as well as of our Innocence The Principles of Christian life are in our souls we have the seeds of all vertues but if we husband them not with great care they are choak'd among the thorns of our evil inclinations For the understanding a truth that so much concerns our salvation we must know that the grace of Baptism defaceth the sin of Adam invests us with the Innocence of Jesus Christ and giving us admittance into his rights bestoweth heaven upon us for our inheritance of children of wrath which we were before Salus hominis in Baptismate sacta est quia dimissum est peccatum quod ex parentibus traxit vel quicquid etiam propric ante Baptismum peccavit we become children of mercy and contracting a true alliance with the holy Trinity we renounce all affinity with flesh and bloud In this happy condition we are no longer afraid of the just wrath of God the thunders he threatens sinners with are no longer terrible to us and living securely under the shadow of Jesus Christ we know that the sole sin of Adam can no longer prejudice our salvation we meditate with delight upon those words of S. Paul There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus We have the earnest of our salvation in our selves Grace is a pledge of glory and remaining under the Conduct of the holy Spirit we are sure that under so good a guide we cannot miscarry But whatever hope our spirit flatters us with
hath been not only contrary to their expectation but also to their beleife For the foundation of their Opinion is that the will cannot be charm'd by any thing but by pleasure and that pleasure cannot be separated from vertue so that the minde and intendment of this Sect is to render a man content in rendring him vertuous and to make him in love with vertue by catching him with pleasure If from the Schooles of Philosophers we passe to the conversation of sinners we shall finde there is not one of them who is not carryed with a particular humour and who seeks not out in the sins he does commit some shadow of happinesse The Ambitious have no other Spirit but vaine-glory This is that proud passion which inanimates all their designs inables them to surmount all difficulties engages them in conflicts where the successe is doutfull and obliges them to sacrifice their owne lives to purchase a little reputation Interest is the soule of the Covetous whatever is profitable is welcome and glorious 'T is the hope of gaine that sweetens their travels and when in despite of Rocks and Tempests they passe the Seas 't is that Idoll of Interest which scatters their feares and boyes up their hopes Pleasure is the life of the Lascivious this passion fosters their desires surmounts their griefes entertaines their fidelity and so besots them with the senses that nothing can any way divert them but what is agreeable or sensuall But not to trouble my selfe with the proofe of so known a Truth and leaving the state of sin to consider that of Grace we must confesse there is not any Society in the Church which finds not its difference in its Spirit and being link't together in the same bond of Charity is not distinguish'd by some other particular vertue Carthusianorum spiritus solitudo For to begin with that order which hath no commerce with men that they may have the more with Angels solitude is its spirit and advantage they take their probation in the Desarts They finde Thebais in Europe and reviving the Anchorites in these last Ages they present us in their Disciples with the happy Image of those great Saints that succeeded the Martyrs and who began to combat pleasure Labia Sacerdotis custodiunt scientiam Mala 2. after others had triumphed over griefe The Dominicans have the Spirit of Preaching their Name which obliges them to this Exercise is an embleme of their duty and because the Gospel subsists by knowledge as well as by Piety they are the Cherubins of the Church the Depositaries and Guardians of Learning the Masters of Divinity and the fruitfull Seminaries whence other Orders derive Knowledge and Truth 'T was their Order that bare those Constellations of Doctors that enlightned the whole Church the Alberts Thomas's Jourdains Renoults Raymonds and Vincents are the Starres which sparkle in this Firmament and who for these four Ages dispence Light and Science round the Europian Christendom The Order of St. Francis is inanimated with the spirit of Penance and Poverty these are the two severe ascetick vertues that preserve it representing in every one of this Fraternity as their blessed Founder the Image of Jesus Christ Crucified all their other Priviledges are reduced to these two as to their Principle what ever they doe or say their designe is to fasten the whole World to the Crosse and infusing their Spirit into the Church Surrexit Elias Propheta quasi ignis verbum illius quasi sacula ardebat verbo Domini continnit ignem dejecit de coelo ignem ter sic amplificatus est Elias in mirabilibus suis Eccles cap. 48. to make all Christians they converse with so many Votaries of Penance and Poverty That Order that takes its Name and Originall from Carmel hath no other Spirit then that of Elias The zeale of this Prophet breathes still in his Disciples wrongs done to God injure them whatever offends him wounds them and these Boanerges more sensible of his glory then their own concernments care not for being persecuted so God may be known and reverenced If as their Father they retire into Desarts 't is because they cannot away with the sins of the World if they preach 't is to gaine subjects to Jesus Christ and to enlarge the bounds of his Empire if they passe the Sea 't is to make war against Idols and to teach all people that they are the children of that Prophet who must support the state of the Church to the end of the World Its Daughters are not inferiour to its Disciples their zeale imitates that of their Father after his Example they live in Wildernesses they destroy wickednesse by their good Works they doe Penance for those sins they never committed and tempering the fervency of Elias with the sweetnesse of Jesus Christ they pray for the salvation of sinners and the ruine of sins they assist the Preachers with their Devotion and neither breaking their Cloyster nor their Silence they are carryed in Spirit into New France and England to convert by their fervour Hereticks and Infidels But as all these companies make but one portion of the body of the Church their spirits are but a part of hers and we may say that from her fulnesse they have borrowed all their riches For the spirit of the Church is the spirit of God he that formed Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin formed the Church in the world Venit Christus complentur in ejus ortu vita factis dictis morte resurrectione ascenfione omnia praeconiae prophetarum mittit Spiritum sanctum implet fideles in una domo congregatos hoc ipsū ante promissum orando desiderando expectantes Aug. ad Volus he it was that composed it when he descended upon the Apostles in the likenesse of tongues and as the Synagogue took its denomination from mount Sinai when the Law was written upon two stones in the middest of thunder and lightning so the Christian Church derives its originall from mount Sion when the law of love was engraven in the heart of the faithfull by the finger of God which is nothing else but the holy Spirit T' is from this happy moment that the sacred Historians begin the Annals of our Mother and then it was that the Apostles her Fathers and her Children cured of their ignorance and infirmity prepared themselves for the conquest of the Universe and the couversion of Infidels The same spirit that inspired them with life inspired them with courage for so generous a designe and hell trembled with amazement when it beheld twelve fishermen and seventy Peasants resolved to lose their lives or to work the downfall of Infidelity Their strength triumphed over the power of Kings their simplicity confounded the prudence of Politicians their ignorance convinced the obstinacy of Philosophers and their discourse void of all rhetoricall ornaments perswaded the mindes of Oratours These Prodigies are very apt to beget wonder but when
we consider that the Apostles served as interpreters to the holy Ghost that he spake with their mouthes and that he resided in their hearts we shall not conceive it strange that he that subdued Egypt with an army of flies converted the world by a few fishermen This spirit which was the force of the Church was also the light as it assisted her in her combats Impleti Spiritu sancto loquumur repente linguis omnium arguunt fidenter errores praedicant saluberrimam veritatem exbortantur ad poenitentiam indulgentiam de divina gratia pollicentur Aug. epist 3. ad Volusi it instructed her in her doubts and as often as she would resolve a difficulty or settle an Article of faith she consulted the spirit of her welbeloved and finding truth in his answers she pronounced nothing but Oracles to her children I see nothing more venerable and august in the infancy of the Church then the first Councell held in the City of Jerusalem to decide a matter that might separate the Jews from the Gentiles It was not convened with so much pomp as others have been there appeared not the Ambassadours of Christian Princes because the whole Church was included within the walls of one onely City there were no Philosophers who made use of the vanity of their Sciences to impede the progresse of the truth of the Gospel there were no strange Nations because all the beleevers were of one Countrey the epitome of the Universe was not seen in one Convocation because the Church had not yet displayed her banner neither in Europe nor Africa But there might be seen the Lieutenant of Jesus Christ with a zeal worthy of his charge there was the Bishop of Jerusalem who was to water with his blood the Church that he had built by his example and instructed by his sermons there might you see the Apostle of the Gentiles take the interest of the people he had newly converted and prove by his reasons that the Gospel being the accomplishment of the Law they were not to make that live again which Jesus Christ had crucified with himself upon the Crosse But of all the circumstances that give an excellency to this Councell above all others I am ravished with none so much as with that great assurance and unshaken confidence the Apostles begin their decisions withall For they acquaint us that they were the Organs of the holy Ghost that he that resided in their hearts expressed himself by their mouthes that he pronounced his Oracles in their words and confirming all they had ordained he had no other sence but theirs Visum est spiritui sancto nobis It hath seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us Let Kings conclude their Edicts in termes never so absolute let them second their reasons with that imperious clause Such is our pleasure and let them prescribe laws to their subjects liberty they shall never perswade us that the holy Ghost is the Authour of their Ordinances and that he that spake by the mouth of the Apostles speaks by the mouth of Monarchs Infallibility is promised to none but to the Church and to the head thereof there is but that Assembly alone that makes the holy Ghost vocall Truth is suspected in the mouthes of Philosophers and Oratours Soveraigns are constrained to have recourse to force to make their laws valid and of credit The Church onely can impose obedience upon her children when she will Potest fieri ut homo mentiatur non potest fieriut veritas mentiatur ex v ritatis ore cognosco Christum ipsam veritatem ex veritatis ore cognosco Ecclefiam veritatis participem Aug. in Isa 57. because to her alone is promised the assistance of the holy Ghost He is her Authour because he formed her in her birth he is her strength because he defends her in persecution he is her light because he instructs her in her doubts and he is her Spirit because he gives her life motion and direction The second DISCOURSE That the Holy Ghost is the Heart of the Church THough there is not any part in a mans body useless or unprofitable yet Natural Philosophy acknowledgeth the Heart and the Head for the two principal The Head is placed in the highest and most eminent seat as the Soveraign having all the Senses as so many faithful ministers gives orders aad sheds influences thorow the whole body of the State thence every part receives Sense and Motion and no sooner is there any obstruction that hinders the commerce of the Head with the rest of the Members but they remain stupied or benummed The Heart is not inferiour to the Head in dignity And we may affirm the Body an Empire that obeys two Soveraigns without the inconvenience of a Schism and takes Law from two absolute Potentates without dividing their Royalty For the Heart resides in the midst of the Body as a King in his Kingdom conveys the Spirits thorow the Arteries dispenseth Life to all his Subjects so extremely sensible of the Publike good that not the least disorder can arise but he gives notice of it by his irregular motion As these two parts are the Noblest so are they most United their fair correspondence cements the peace of the Body their division threatens its ruine and when they no longer entertain a free communication the State must necessarily perish without any hope of recovery If we may compare Great things with Small Ecclesiae Corporis Christus est Caput Spiritus sanctus Cor. Thom. we may say that the Church is a mystical Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and the holy Ghost the Heart They act diversly but to one and the same end The one Guides this great Body the other Quickens it the one gives it Motion the other Life As there is no misfortune that can divide them the Body which they constitute is immortal and whatever enemies set upon it they shall never be able to prevail against it all its Combats are attended with Victory Death despoils it of no parts which Eternity restores not again what it loseth upon Earth it recovers in Heaven and by a happie dispensation of Providence findes Rest in Persecution Life in Death Glory in Shame But as its greatest advantage is to have the holy Ghost for its Heart and the Son of God for its Head let us speak of the First till we shall have an opportunity to treat of the Second and let us discover those Graces and Blessings the Church receives from his guidance and direction Where that we may not pass the terms of our Comparison we say that the holy Spirit being the Heart of this great Body inanimates it by his Presence unites it by his Charity guides it by his Light and comforts it by his Goodness The Heart is the Noblest Seat of the Soul the Throne where she reigns the Centre of her Principality where she keeps her chief residence so that we may say 't is the
Understanding Weakness into his Memory and Malice into his Will Under this conduct he confounds Errour with Truth Vice with Vertue and having no other end but himself he commits as many sins as he intends to perform good works Vain-glory is the Primum mobile that sets him a going he seeks for reputation in all his actions and when he assists his Country stands for the Laws and fights for Liberty he obeys a Tyrant which inspires him with wicked intentions even then when he seems to counsel him to the best and most upright undertakings Thus Man becomes Wretched when he ceaseth to be Faithful the loss of Grace causeth the enfeebling of his Liberty and the removal of the holy Spirit involves him in a death so much the more dangerous by how much it is less sensible and more concealed The Natural death makes a strange havock in the body of Man as soon as he seizeth upon the face he banisheth Beauty horrour and fear always attend him nor does he ever enter upon a body but 't is accompanied with stench and putrifaction These sad effects render him ghastly nor can the most confident behold him without some sense of terrour and affrightment But the spiritual death causeth indeed no amazement because it leaves no visible characters of its malignity The holy Spirit quits the sinner with small noise his departure which causeth so much misfortune makes no buzzle at all and when he withdraws his Grace from a soul she is no whit affected with it because the loss is insensible A Monarch thinks he is deprived of nothing because he still exerciseth absolute command over his subjects nor sees that he is a slave to as many masters as there are sins that reign in his soul A Philosopher never conceits himself less happie because he is not more ignorant the Light that remains in him suffers him not to see his Blindness and he imagines he is still vertuous because he still retains his knowledge An immodest woman is never troubled at the loss of Grace because it no ways impairs her good complexion she hath much ado to believe that sin hath polluted her Soul because it hath stampt no deformity upon her Face and beholding her self in her glass as handsome after her fault as before she cannot perswade her self that she is less amiable in Gods eyes because she is not in her own In the mean time the loss of Grace is the loss of Life the absence of the holy Spirit is the death of the Soul and from the very instant he deserts us all Vertues bid us farewel Whiles he keeps his residence in our hearts those glorious habits that render men vertuous accompany them and as the presence of the Sun produceth Lilies and Roses in our Gardens the presence of the holy Spirit produceth Hope and Charity in our Souls 'T is true this Spirit is so good that after he hath left us he still hovers about us if he dwell not in our hearts he forbears not to move and stir them and if he Quicken us no longer by his Grace he incites us by his Power But to understand this Truth which is one of the most important in Religion we must know there is this difference between the Soul and the Spirit That moves no more when once it ceaseth to inanimate Spiritus ubi vult spirat quod fatendum est aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitans aliter inhabitans nordum inhabitans adjuvat ut sint fideles inhabitans adjuvat jam fidebes Aug. Epist ad Sixt. it gives no Impulse when it gives no Life and there must be some supernatural power to re-unite it to the body which it hath once bidden adieu to But the holy Spirit which is a Form not depending upon the Matter free in his operations and like the winde blowes where it listeth is not subject to these laws he quits the sinner when his Crime obliges him to do it he abandons the Temple he consecrated with his presence and together with habitual grace he takes away all vertues that served him for ornament or for defence But his goodness reserves the means still to sollicite this unfaithful soul by holy motions to touch this rebel by his inspirations and by his allurements to court this adultress who hath falsified the faith she promised in the Sacrament of Baptism or that of Repentance he knocks at the door of his heart to get admittance he sheds light into his understanding to dispel the darknesse he carries pleasure into his will to gaine its content and without doing it any violence triumphs over his obstinacy when he constrains him to taste more sweetnesse in vertue then in vice The love men have to liberty makes them wish that these motions of the Spirit were continuall that at every moment he should offer grace to the sinner that he could use it at pleasure and that in the state of sin enjoying the priviledges of the state of innocene his salvation might depend absolutely upon his own will Those that make this objection know not in my opinion neither the greatnesse of our crime nor the power of the Holy Spirit God deales with the sinner much after another fashion then he does with the Innocent Natura hominis primitus inculpata sine ullo vitio creata est natura vero ista hominis qua unusquisque ex Adam nascitur jam medico indiget quia sana non est Aug. de natur grac. c. 3. 't is easier to preserve a just man then to convert a guilty one there needs much more endeavour to subdue a will rooted consummated in evil then to entertame one grounded established in good Innocent man had no bad inclinations Grace found no resistance in his person and his liberty being not captivated by concupiscence there was no need that the Holy Ghost should gaine mastery thereby to purchase his deliverance It was sufficient gently to excite a man who needed but a little support to walk to raise him by his Inspirations who was cumbred with no disorders and to dart a small beame of light into his eyes who needed indeed to be cleared not to be cured But sinfull man must be dealt with after another manner the motion of the Spirit must be more vigorous because he undertakes an enemy Grace must have more allurements because it meets with more impediments must raise it selfe above the will because the will stoopes beneath self-love and God must be the Authour of mans salvation because man was the Authour of his fall If the Holy Spirit did not act more vigorously then in the state of Innocence sinners would remaine obstinate in their obliquity if Grace were but a flash their will would never be changed and if this victorious sweetnesse did not imprint force with pleasure they would live and die in their sins But at last say they Grace ought to be as common as it is vigorous it must bee offered to us every moment Pro
nihilo salvos facies illos nuila ergo hujus bona merita praecesseraut de quibus salvaretur imo talia praecesserant de quibus damnaretur Aug. in psal 55. and since the goodnesse of God is so jealous of our salvation it should of necessity furnish us with assistance upon all occasions There were some colour for this objection were Grace a debt but since 't is an Almes which God is no way bound to bestow upon any body I know not what pretence they have to complaine against its want of universality since in strictnesse of justice it might be refused to all the world The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Master of Grace he disposeth of it as pleaseth him and if sometimes he deny it there is none that can complaine The children of Adam lost it by the sin of their Father and the members of Jesus Christ lose it by their own The former are excluded by their birth the second by their infidelity The former are unfortunate the latter criminall and both of them living or dying in sin may justly expect nothing but condemnation But they reply 't is necessary that the holy Spirit acting in and by free creatures depend in his motions upon their will and concurre so gently with their free-will that they be rather the Authors then the Instruments of their salvation For we cannot conceive this dominion of the holy Spirit over mens hearts but withall we must apprehend some violence which diminisheth their merit and weakens their liberty Nature Reason and Faith furnish us with answers to satisfie these difficulties For when nature unites the soul and body together she intends that the Noblest should be the most powerfull that all the Authority appertains to him and that he shou ld be the Master of that part which is inferiour to him in dignity When morality united man with the Angel and gave Geniusse's to Philosophers and Emperours she was not afraid to injure the Liberty of Pupils by advancing the power of their Tutelary Angels nor did she never beleeve that Nocrates was a slave because obedient to his Familiar This Spirit whether good or bad indifferently applied him to all things he was his Councellor in his highest enterprises and the will of this Philosopher was so plyant to the motions of his genius that himself confesseth in Plato that he was rather Passive then Active Movebatur Socrates à Genio suo ut quaedam ageret à quibusdam abstineret saepe compellebatur Plut. de Socra daem In the mean time he complains not that he was forced he found pleasure in servitude and because his submission was voluntary he beleeved and that not without reason that obedience is no prejudice to liberty Faith perswades the same truth upon much stronger arguments for when it unites the holy Spirit with man it gives all the advantage to the Creator without supposing the least injury done to the creature it knows that God is more intimate with man then man with himself that he flows in upon the very essence of his will that he can change all his inclinations and being the Master of his workmanship can dispose of it as he pleaseth without the least umbrage of constraint His Providence leads men to their end with as much force as sweetness his force hurts not their liberty because accompanied with sweetnesse and his sweetnesse wrongs not his Majesty because attended with force whatever he does he always acts like a Soveraign his will findes no opposition that it surmounts not and when he intends to execute his designes he knowes as well how to prepare the heart of the guilty as of the innocent The first motions of Grace require no predispositions in the soul the second beget a consent without constraint and both of them bear away man with so much force and sweetnesse that he is never more free then when he is most powerfully drawn Sweetnesse so well tempers force that it is never violent and force so fully encourageth sweetnesse that it meets with no impediment it overcomes not Thus God is absolutely obeyed man sweetly born away the one findes his glory in his power the other his salvation in his obedience and both of them after a divers manner finish one and the same work This conduct is so distant from compulsion that the stronger it is the more gentle is it the more subject man is to it the freer his condition the lesse opposition hee hath the more happy is hee and perfect Jesus Christ owes one part of his Sanctity to the obedience hee rendered to the Holy Spirit the happy impotency hee was endued with not to resist him diminished neither his merit nor his liberty and hee blotted out our transgressions because hee was as necessarily as freely subject to his ordinances The nearer Christians approach to this state the more perfect are they the more powerfull their grace is the stronger is their liberty the more effectuall the inspirations of the Spirit are the easier and more acceptable is there conversion The sixth DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit teacheth the Christian to pray NAture whose providence cannot be sufficiently admired hath beene pleased that those things that are most necessary should be most common and that as it were preventing the desires of men they should of their own accord offer themselves to those that enquire not after them There is nothing more necessary then light for besides that it is the channel whereby the Sun sheds his Influences upon the Earth it serves for a guide to them that walk discovers all the beauties of the world and happily expresseth those of its Creator So is there nothing more common in nature it is communicated to all people it suffers no partition and covetousnesse and ambition which have divided Sea and Land have found no way how to canton the light As the Aire is more necessary then this so is it also more common it enters into prisons where day never dawns it entertains those wretches with life who have lost their liberty it steales into the depths of the Sea and the bowels of the Earth neither is there any creature that is not refreshed by its acceptable humidity Grace imitates nature it is prodigall of its Treasures the more Christians stand in need of them the more frequently are they dispenced unto them and out of the care it takes of their salvation its good pleasure is that the most usefull favours are also the easiest to be obtained Prayer is an excellent proofe of this truth for in the condition we are there is no beleever that stands not in need thereof the daily miseries they suffer obliges them to make use of it and amongst so many enemies that set upon them they have no weapon but this wherewith to defend themselves 'T is the portion of the Church Militant and being still in conflict she cannot implore succour from heaven but by the mediation of Prayer Angeli beati de
Salute sua sunt securi de nostra solliciti Greg. Mag. The Church Triumphant is wholly taken up with Allelujahs being freed from miseries she makes no vows but for us and she hath no other businesse but eternally to blesse him that is the Fountain of her blessednesse But the Church Militant who lives in a strange Countrey who hath as many enemies as neighbours and who is well assured that the very name she bears obliges her to combate importunes Heaven by her prayers sends up sighs to her Well-beloved and cals upon him for help by the frequency of supplications If Prayer be thus necessary 't is yet more common for the Son of God tels us that blessings cost us onely the pains to ask for them Ask and ye shall receive Saint Paul will have us use this remedy in all our distresses offering up this sacrifice in all places Volo vos orare omni loco and Saint Augustine the faithfull Interpreter of this great Apostle assures us that to pray well there is nothing required but to desire well that our intercession continues as long as our desires doe and that in keeping silence we speak to God when we addresse our wishes to him but though this remedy be so necessary and so common yet is it neverthelesse of difficult performance and to know well how to use it the holy Spirit must instruct us The Scripture whose words are Oracles conferres this Elogie upon him particularly it teacheth us that he it is that animates our prayers by his calentures that inspires us with this confidence which gives us boldnesse to call God our Father which draws tears from our eyes sighs from our hearts and with groanes that cannot be expressed whereof he is the Authour blots out our sins and comforts our miseries In a word if we beleeve the great Apostle we know not the art to pray if we have not learnt it in the School of the holy Spirit the evils that oppresse us may indeed inspire us with eloquence but not indite our prayer and whatever need we feel if Grace prevent us not we cannot obtain a remedy Self-love so blindes us that if we be led by it we shall rather beg our ruine then our salvation Man is in so profound an ignorance that he knows not what is profitable or prejudiciall to him he many times conceives designes the accomplishments whereof are sad and dismall to him and Seneca had reason to say that God was incensed when he granted our requests If the ambitious give the reins to his passion that possesses him he will never aske any thing but honours and not consulting whether Glory stain his humility all his vows will have no other aim but the increase of his Fortune If the Covetous take councell of his Interest his prayers serve onely his covetousnesse even to the injuring of his Creatour whom he will never strive to gain but that he may be the Minister of his unjust desires If the Lascivious pursue the motion of wantonnesse that tyranniseth over him perhaps he will grow insolent enough to demand of God the glutting of his brutish passion so that according to the language of the Scripture his prayer will be turned into sin and the more Petitions he puts up the more offences will he commit If a man who breathes nothing but revenge implore the aid of Heaven in that wretched condition his inclination stronger then his reason will oblige him to interesse the Son of God in his injuries and out of an impudence worthy to be punished endeavour to engage him in his quarrell who died upon the Crosse for the salvation of his enemies Finally the prayer of every sinner will be a high sacriledge and he will draw down upon his head the thunder of heaven even then when he thinks to appease its anger But when the Christian suffers himselfe to be guided by the Spirit he intreats nothing of God but what is well-pleasing to him all his conceptions are not lesse beneficiall to himselfe then glorious for Jesus Christ and as the Principle that quickens him is Divine all the Prayers that flow thence are Divine and Heavenly too The glory of God is always dearer to him then his salvation he never separates the publick good from his own private interest he prays for his Family when he petitions for the State and knowing very well that he is a living member of the mysticall body of Jesus Christ he never makes any supplications that are prejudiciall to the Church The second Advantage we draw from the assistance of the holy Spirit in Prayer is that he makes known to us the secrets to come and carrying us beyond the present time markes out all those disasters the injustice of our desires threaten us with Our ignorance is one of the chiefest causes of our misfortunes if we could read in those eternall Annals where mens adventures are imprinted we should perceive that the greatest part of our desires are more disadvantageous to us then the imprecations of our enemies we are inquisitive after the causes of our disgrace in the night of futurity we hasten our ruine by our impatience and Heaven may easily plead excuse for our mischances since they are very often the effects of our own prayers God never takes greater vengeance on us then when he grants us what we so earnestly importune him for nor is he ever more opposite to our salvation then when he shews himself most favourable to our requests our Fathers and Mothers contribute to our damnation their wishes make us miserable and we need not wonder that calamities overwhelm us seeing we live amongst the Anathema's of our nearest relations The holy Spirit happily remedies this disorder for knowing the full extent of Eternity he sees all the events that are to happen in the sequell of succeeding generations so that he never inspires us with meditations that are not profitable to us he diverts us from those wishes which are prejudiciall to our salvation he will not suffer us to ask a Curse instead of a Blessing and when he breathes in our heart or speaks by our mouth our prayers always carry their reward with them the very deniall of them is usefull and when he forbears to grant what we besought him for 't is to exercise our patience and crown our humility If he have so much respect to our interest he hath no lesse to the Glory of Jesus Christ and he so well sorts his honour and our good together that whatsoever is helpfull to us is honourable to him The greatest part of sinners intreat of God those things that are opposite to his will or unworthy of his greatnesse For whether passion transport them or ignorance blind them they require honours of him that was born in a Stable and died upon a Crosse they expect pleasures from him who spent his whole life in sorrow and whom the Scriptures by way of Excellency style a Man of Griefes they hope for riches
he is not master of the mind but because he is of the body nor hath he any command over the will of man but because 't is in his power to mutinie his passions But sinne reigns in all the faculties of man his darkness clouds the Understanding his malice depraves the Will his ingratitude weakens the Memory he enters where ever grace can and penetrating the very essence of the soule builds a Palace where the holy Spirit had erected a Temple When he is forced to quit the hold where he had intrench'd himselfe and yielding to grace is constrained to leave the sinner at liberty he sets on foot by his Ministers that violence he could not act by himselfe Concupiscence which is his daughter and his mother endeavours to execute his designes she takes pains in his directions and like a souldier that disputes the victory after the death of his Generall she does her utmost to enthrone him after his defeat For all the motions of this concupiscence favour sinne all the streams that issue from this fountain are unclean all the counsels that proceed from this Minister are suspected and all the assaults this Enemy makes against us are prejudiciall to our salvation she is not innocent in the greatest Saints * Concupiscentia causa est peccati vel defectione consentientis vel contagione nascentis Aug. lib. 6. Con. Jul. c. 19. she preserves her malignity in the very Empire of Grace she resists the Holy Spirit in the Temple he is adored in and as Divines confesse that as the Tree is inclosed in the kernell sinne is wrapt up in concupiscence This was the evill the Apostle of the Gentiles complains of writing to the Romans 't was that disorder he would but could not reforme 't was that rebellion he felt in his members and was not able to appease 't was that law of the flesh warring against that of God which he could not abrogate 't was finally that Monster that drew complaints from his mouth made him confesse his weaknesse and obliged him to wish for death that he might be delivered from his Tyranny For as Saint * Non quod volo ago sed quod nolo hoc ago quod odi concupiscere odi concupiscere tamen illud ago ex carne non ex mente non implet legem infirmitas mea sed legem laudat voluntas mea Aug. in Rom. Augustine observes very well 't was not in the power of the Apostle to cure that maladie which depended not upon his Will because it passed on in despite of him and his complaints which were marks of his piety were proofs also of his infirmity We must not say with the Pelagians that Saint Paul in his person represents that of a sinner whose bad Habit having weakened his liberty left him nothing but sighes and regrets for being thrown into a condition out of which 't was not in his power to come forth For though this interpretation be true and some Fathers who were very tender of the holinesse of the Apostle of the Gentiles have imagined that he could not be subject to these disorders Neverthelesse Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine who knew very well that Grace does not destroy Concupiscence were not troubled to acknowledge this in Saint Paul and to confesse That the Liberty of the greatest Saints is not so intire but it experienceth rebellions which it cannot master and that 't is onely in Eternity where Grace obtains a full triumphant victory over sin Si autem sicut melius sentit Ambrosius hoc etiam de seipso dicit Apostolus nec justorum est in hac vita tanta libertas propriae voluntatis quanta erit in illa vita ubi non dicitur Non quod volo ago Aug. lib. 6. cont Julian when the Saints shall no more say with Saint Paul I do that which I would not Indeed this complaint is an evident proof of the weakness that remains in man after he hath received the pardon of his sin Though he be in Grace he is not freed from pain though he be assisted by God he cannot chuse but tremble and though his Will be straight yet is it not so stedfast and constant as to overcome all that combates his good resolutions The experience he hath of his infirmity obligeth him to implore the succours of Heaven knowing very well that victory is never compleat upon earth he intreats an end of his life to obtain that of his conflict and being not ignorant that his vigour is abated by this Inmate which he can neither defeat nor divorce he implores an Aid that supplyes his impotency and renders him strong enough not to be worsted This is the Reason St Augustine made use of against the Pelagians For whereas they affirmed that Man had always a full freedom to correct himself nor that there was any state wherein Concupiscence held so great a command over the Will that he could not easily defend himself he confronted them with this passage of St Paul saying with that vigour of spirit that accompanies all his argumentations Confess that all those that have a mind to mend cannot do it since he that speaks in these terms 'T is not I that work gives a sufficient demonstration that his desire is strong but his power weak Say not that he can subdue sin by the meer abilities of his Will since he discovers his infirmity by his complaints and were he vigorous enough to bring all his forces into the field he would never utter those words Non quod volo ago Suffer him at least in whom you see the activity of free-will weakened to have recourse to the assistance of Grace and to seek for that out of himself which he cannot finde in himself But this misfortune is yet much greater in sinners newly converted then in the just who have a long time persevered in this vertue For if these last have not destroyed sin they have debilitated him and if they have not obtained a full victory they have gain'd some advantage over this Enemy if they have not quite obstructed his motions they have greatly check'd them and if they have not strength to be delivered they have courage enough to stand upon their guard and defend themselves But the others have encreased his power by their own cowardise they have added the tyranny of Habit to that of Concupiscence they are reduced to a wretched impotency to withstand since they have not crush'd him in his conception and their liberty is so small to defeat him that their slavery degenerates for the most part into down-right necessity Thence it came to passe that St Augustine being fallen into that deplorable condition complain'd that his bad Habit had fettered his Will that he groan'd under the weight of his irons that he could not break them though he had hammered them himself and having voluntarily thrown himself into the net he was necessarily held fast in it My Will saith he admirably in his
Confessions was in the hands of mine Enemy he had cast a chain about me which manacled me so fast I could not disengage my self but was forced to follow him for of my bad inclinations he formed bad desires which basely obeying I contracted a bad habit and not timely resisted was presently changed into a troublesome necessity I call this slavery a Chain because it was composed of my own inclinations as of so many links which the Grace that prepar'd me for my Conversion was not strong enough to break asunder He made vain attempts to be disengaged his Will encourag'd with Grace stoutly opposed his Will seconded with Concupiscence himself was the Theater of this Combat he was the Victor and the vanquished but the advantage was more prejudiciall then the defeat since the worse party was the strongest and his Will yeelding obedience to the Tyranny of Concupiscence resisted the Command of Charity He pleasantly complains to God of the greatness of this Evill in the same place of his Confessions In vain did I take pleasure in Your Law concerning the inward man because there was another law in the rebelling against Yours and which against my will made me subject to the law of sin that was in my members For the law of sin is nothing else but the Tyranny of Custome which engageth the minde of man with a kinde of constraint but not without some colour of Justice because he willingly procured this Thraldom But he never more happily express'd the nature of this Evill then when he compares a bad Habit to the imperious complacency of sleep For it seems there is nothing more sweet then those drowsie vapours in the mean time there is nothing more violent and of all things that set upon a man there is none from which he can lesse defend himselfe This evill takes force from it's sweetnesse the more pleasant the fumes are it exhaleth the stronger are they the more pain they inflict the more is their pleasure the lesse liberty they indulge us the more is the love they expresse toward us 'T is by this example that this great Saint illustrates the agreeable violence of a bad habit Ita sarcina seculi veluti somno assolet dulciter premebar cogitationes quibus meditabar in te similes erant conatibus expergisci volentium qui tamen superati soporis altitudine remerguntur Aug. I was overwhelmed with the love of the world saith he as with a deep sleep and the meditations I lifted up to heaven were like the vain endeavours of men striving to awake who beaten down with the weight of drowsiness fall asleep again at the very instant they awake True it is as there is no man that would always sleep and in the judgement of all wise men watchings are better then sleep I also was of the same opinion that 't was more advantageous for me to submit to thy grace O Lord then to yield to my passion But as the most part of men suffered themselves to be more sweetly charm'd with sleep when their hour to awake approacheth so did I more enticingly imbrace my bad habit when the time of my conversion seemed nearest at hand It is but too evident by this comparison that mans weaknesse passeth even to impotency when he suffers himselfe to be swallowed up by sin and in his infirmities stands in need of a mighty arme to deliver him from the Tyrant that keeps him under Now the holy Spirit performs this good office to all sinners 't is he that breaketh their irons when they are fetter'd by concupiscence or by custome The Spirit helpeth our infirmity saith great Saint Paul he not only clarifies the Christians but fortifies them and the same grace he sheds abroad in their souls at once fils them with light and strength he joynes himselfe with the soule to subdue the rebellions of the flesh he inspires their liberty with a new vigour knocking off it's fetters he armes the faculty whereby it takes vengeance of it's enemies for as Saint Augustine excellently observes 't is not the Spirit of man but of God that fights against the flesh Spiritus concupiscit adversus carnem in hominibus bonis non in malis qui Spiritum Dei non habent contra quem caro concupiscat Aug. these two parts almost continually agree in unbelievers and wicked men if they practise hostility for their particular interests concupiscence unites them to serve her designes She masters wantonnesse with pride tames pleasure with avarice but in all these contestations the soule and body are subject to sin and these two are reconciled together to further the intentions of their Soveraign But when the soule fights against the flesh in the faithfull 't is always by the motion of the spirit 't is this divine Protection that gives her courage and delivering her from the bondage of her slave establisheth her in the possession of her lawfull authority Let us explain this Truth in the words of Saint Augustine the flesh did not lust against the spirit in Paradise there was no warre in so profound a peace nor did man see himselfe divided by the conflict of two parts whereof he was made But when once he had violated the Law of God and had refused obedience to his Soveraign he was given over to himselfe upon condition too that he should never be his own Master but be wholy at his devotion that had deceived him Then was it that the flesh began to revolt against the spirit but this happens not but in the person of good men for in that of wicked men the flesh hath nothing to rebell against because the soule being become carnall hath no other feelings but those of the flesh And when the Apostle saith That the spirit warreth against the flesh we are not to imagine that he speaks of the spirit of man but of that of God that fights in us against our selves or to speak more soundly 't is he that combates that in us that is prejudiciall to us and when he makes warre upon us 't is to procure peace within us 'T is in this sense that the same Apostle hath said further to the faithfull that if by the vertue of the spirit they did mortifie the deeds of the flesh they should live For least man should grow proud in hearing those words and perswade himselfe that it was by his own spirit that he ought to tame the flesh the Apostle presently explains himselfe that they are the Children of God that are led by the Spirit to the end we may know that 't is he that mortifies our flesh quickens our soule and gives us victory in the Conslict 'T is for this cause that he is called in Scripture the Spirit of strength and of counsell to teach us that the same that guides doth also assist us that having enlightned us he warmes us too inspiring us with courage to execute our designes after he hath endued us with wisdome to devise and contrive
them But Saint Augustine informs us that he acts otherwise with sinners then with the godly and that he carries himselfe after another fashion with those he moves only Aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitans aliter habitans nam nondum inhabitans adjuvat ut sint fideles inhabitans adjuvat jam fideles Aug. Epist ad Sixtum then with those whom he inanimates He assists the former that they may be converted he helps the second that they may persevere in the former he inspires faith in the later charity to the one he opens the door of the Church to the other the gate of Heaven But finally 't is one and the same Spirit that aids all Christians in their different conversations 'T is he that triumphs over the Executioners in the Martyrs that combates Hereticks in the Doctours that subdues the flesh in the Continent that despiseth the pleasures of the world in the Anchorites that conquers sinne in the Penitents and that leads all the Elect from the Camp of the Church Militant into the bosome of the Church Triumphant The Ninth DISCOURSE That the HOLYSPIRIT is the CHRISTIANS Comforter SIn and Misery were borne into the world both upon a day assoon as ever man became criminall he became miserable Peccavit anima ideo misera est liberum arbitrium accepit quo usa est quemadmodum voluit lapsa est ejecta est de beatitudine implicata est misertis Aug. contra Fortu. Disp 2. punishment followed transgression so close upon the heeles that he lost his happinesse as soon as he had lost his innocence Ever since this fatall moment his life hath been but a continued Train of miseries insensibly leading him to the Chambers of death The Hydra of the Poets never was so fruitfully pregnant and Fiction with all it's inventions could never yet represent the story of our misfortunes Nor Age nor Sexe nor Condition give any person a dispensation Infants are wretched in the Cradle that innocent Age that hath no other sinne then that of Adam is sensible of pains as sharp as those that accompany old age Women who somtimes shake off obedience to their Husbands cannot escape the pangs of griefe and Kings who are so absolute in their State have no Guards that can stop sicknesse and sadnesse from entring into their Palaces These two enemies of man-kind creep every where their dominion knowes no bounds where ever there are men they finde subjects and create miserable Indeed Christians meet with a great deale of consolation in these distresses for besides that the hope of futurity sweetens their present evils that the example of Jesus Christ gives them encouragement that the constancy of Martyrs bear up their spirits they have received the Holy Spirit that comforts them in their troubles and supplies them with as many remedies as misfortune takes upon it shapes to assault them Let us reduce both of them to four heads and make it appear in their discourses that 't is not in vaine that man beares the name of miserable and the Holy Spirit that of a Comforter One of the fearfullest torments of man a sinner is that the two parts whereof he is made cannot agree In te ex teipso est flagellum tuum fit rixa tua tecum lucta est in illo corpore quamdiu vivimus pugnamus quamdiu pugnamus periclitamur Aug. The body and the soule are always upon bad terms their love is turned into hate and if there be any agreement between them 't is always to the disadvantage of the nobler part All is out of order in the master-piece of the Creation Earth is higher then Heaven the Beast domineers over the Angell the Spirit stoops to the Body and Passions are the Mistresses of Reason The Saints groan under this disorder they invoke death to be freed from this Tyranny and they intreat an end of their life that they may see an end of a Combate whose event is so doubtfull The Holy Spirit accommodates this difference by his grace for he takes part with the soule against the body he subjects the soule to God thereby to subject the body to the soule he sets things in the state they were in during the time of Innocence and so suppresseth the revolts of the flesh that if the Spirit be not absolute it is at least the strongest in the Saints 'T is the grace of our heavenly Comforter say the Fathers of the Church that sweetens our discontents that quencheth the impure flames that concupiscence kindles in our hearts that subdues those violent passions whose first motions are of so difficult coercion 'T is it that charmes those deceitfull hopes and desires that promise us felicity in the World and which finally following the Inclinations of this Spirit whereof it is the Image inables the Christian to be revenged of those rebells that disturb the quiet of his person The second punishment of guilty man is to see himselfe exiled from heaven and constrain'd to endure a banishment as long as life Indeed he undergoes here all the miseries of an exterminated person he is deprived of his goods and lives not but upon borrowing or almes he is driven out of Paradise fallen from all those honours that equal'd his condition to that of Angels and reduced to a deplorarable state Homo cum in honore esset non intellexit ideo comparatus est jumentis insipientibus Psal 48. rendring his fortune little different from that of beasts He never looks up to heaven but if there be any spark of piety remaining he bewailes his offence and is afflicted at his banishment Griefe puts these complaints in his mouth Wo is me because my habitation is prolonged He is afraid least the snares that are scattered in the place of his residence entangle him if he suffer any calamity he presently reflects upon the happinesse he hath lost and if he taste any pleasures he misstrusts lest they engage him in the world For Christians are threatned with this double evill and if they take not good heed they are in danger to love their exile and forget their Countrey they settle their fortune upon earth they build as if they never meant to remove they are strongly taken up with the present world and they lose all beliefe of the future and a man hath much adoe to perswade them that so delightfull an Abode is the place of their Banishment and the Theater of their Torment They must be made feele their miseries that they may have some desire towards another life and we think we have gained much upon their Spirit when they will be perswaded to look with an indifferent eye upon the place of their birth Therefore is it that Richardus de Sancto Victore divides men into three ranks the first is those that are fastened to their Countrey whom he calls Delicate Delicatus est cui patria dulcis fortis cui omne solum patria perfâ—ctus cui omnis terra exilium est
primus amorem fixit secundus sparsit tertius extinxit Richar. de Sanct. Vict. the second those that look upon the whole earth as their Countrey whom he calls Courageous the third those that look upon the World as the place of their banishment whom he calls Perfect To speak truth the first are sordid because they have confin'd their love to a corner of the world the others are generous because intending it over all they have weakened it and the third are accomplish'd because having wholly stifled it their hopes are altogether taken up with heaven they long for this eternall habitation the moments that stop them here below seeme ages the diversions illusions the pleasures torments the happinesse of the World a dangerous temptation Now the Holy Spirit comforts them in this reasonable disgust he inspires them with the desire of heaven points out the glory of the blessed fills them with hope of the shortening of their exile and makes them say with David I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord. But the most substantiall Comfort he makes use of to mitigate and sweeten their troubles is to give them an Antepast of felicity to render them happy in the midst of their miseries and to shed his graces into their spirit with so much complacency that conversing with men they may relish the blisse of Angels For he is the earnest of our blessednesse the Assurance of our salvation the Caution of the promise of Jesus Christ and if we may say so he is a portion of the felicity which is promised us in Glory The third grievance of Man a Sinner is That the Earth is not only a place of Banishment but a Countrey of Enemies where all creatures serving as Instruments of the Divine Justice make warre upon him which ends not till he dyes For though he boast himselfe the Lord of the Universe though the sinne of his father perswade him into this errour though Concupiscence that reigns in his soule heightens the desire thereof nor can all the miseries he endures shake him out of this hope yet is he dealt with as a Criminall Every Element threatens him with a thousand dangers and into what ever corner of his State he retires he findes either Executioners or Rebels Poisons are mixt with nourishment upon the earth rocks lye in ambush for him upon the Sea the fire inflames thunder to destroy him Qui in cunctis delinquimus in cunctis ferimur ut impleatur quod dicitur Et pugnabit pro co contra infensatos orbis terrarum Greg. Mag. hom 35. in Evan. and the aire scatters contagions to infect him There is no part of the world that conspires not against him heaven punisheth his iniquities as well as earth the Sun which is the fountain of life makes him dye the Aspects of the heavenly bodies are fatall to him nor is there any Star in the Firmament which hath not some power to infest him But that which redoubles these displeasures is That all these Creatures are in the hands of his Enemy to afflict him for the devill is the Prince of the world The Scripture that designes him this Quality teacheth us that he disposeth of the Elements under the good pleasure of God to persecute man sometimes he darts down Thunderbolts and though he execute the determinations of Heaven he fails not to content his own malice he raiseth Tempests upon the Sea and Storms upon the Land forms Lightnings in the air and successively makes use of wet and drought to produce barrenness Admit this Stratagem succeed not he tries another so much more dangerous in that it appears more taking for he imployes the creatures to seduce us he discovers beauties to make us Idolaters spreads nets to catch us Creaturae Dei in odium factae sunt et in tentationem animabus hominum et in muscipulam pedibus insipientium Sapient cap. 14. and of every creature makes a Lure to engage us into sin Greatness serves to swell us with vanity riches to nuzzle us in covetousnesse beauties to awaken our wantonnesse and food which is necessary for our life to plunge us into sensuality Hee makes weapons of all the parts of our body deals with our senses to corrupt us nor is he ever more terrible then when he arms our selves against our selves Finally To leave nothing unattempted he perverts what-ever is most necessary in the world and mixes disorders in those actions that cannot be dispensed with to the end that thinking to preserve our lives we may be instrumentall to his malice and our ruine Marriage is the nursery of the world Posuit in comestione gulam in generatione luxuriam in dominatione supcrbiam in correctione iram in conversatione invidiam Aug. 't is that Sacrament that repairs the havock death makes that entertains families supplyes Kingdoms with Ministers of State and Souldiers peoples heaven replenisheth the orders of Angels and consummates the number of the Elect In the mean time our Enemy hath rendered it dangerous in rendering it unchaste he turns the remedy into a poyson and making sinners licentious of a married couple makes many times a pair of Adulterers Eating is the subsistence of life 't is that to man that Marriage is to the world it protects us from famine that tends to death it repairs our strength with pleasure and if it be the most necessary of our remedies 't is also the most delightfull But the Divel hath tempred it with gluttony and excesse thereby to corrupt it he occasions debauchments at feasts and we vitiously please our palate when we think onely to supply our necessity Government is one of the usefullest inventions of the Politick or rather of Providence The power of Kings preserves justice in States their Scepter is a terrour to the wicked and a support to the good God shews himself visible in their person and we look upon them with as much respect as Infidels did heretofore upon their false Deities In the mean time the pride that steals into Greatness through the malice of the Divel dimms their lustre makes their power odious and many times makes their lawfull Authority degenerate into a most insupportable Tyranny Correction and Conversation are equally necessary the one entertains society the other eliminates offences the one polisheth our manners the other perfects them the one renders us civil the other vertuous mean while the subtilty of the malignant spirit scatters anger into Correction envie into Conversation and corrupting the fruits and effects of each hinders us from profiting by the advice and entertainments of our friends Who would not lose all patience amidst such a throng of miseries did not the holy Spirit give us strength to vanquish the fury of our Enemies prudence to defend us against their plots and subtilties Spiritus adjuvat infirmitatem nostram Rom. 8. and consolation to support us against the bitternesse of our afflictions For he it is
august solemnity then what appeared at the Death of Jesus Christ Men lament the death of their Soveraigns they expresse some sadnesse though for the most part 't is either counterfeit or interessed Those that expected their liberality are afflicted at their death those that feared their power or their displeasure rejoyce But were they so generally beloved that the regret was universall at least we must confesse that Nature would not weep over their Funerals she would be insensible of their death nor would she disorder her Course to witnesse her Lamentation This honour was reserved for Jesus Christ There was never any King but he registred by quick and dead None but this Innocent drew tears from the Stars and the Son of God is the only Soveraign whose obsequies all creatures solemnly attended 'T is true his Mysticall Body partakes of this honour with him Nature hath many times wrought miracles to publish the Innocence of Martyrs the fire hath lost his heat that it might not be instrumentall to their punishment wilde Beasts have waxed tame at their feet Omnes Martyres Deus Spiritualiter liberavit neminem Spritualiter deseruit visibiliter tamē quosdā deseruisse visus est quosdam eripuisse sed ideo quosdam eripuit neputes illum non potuisse eripere ubi non cripuit secretiorem intelligas voluntatem Aug. Tract 8. in Epist 10. and acknowledging in them a Grace more powerfull then that of Originall Righteousnesse they have many times forgot that fiercenesse the sin of man indued them with The Sea hath suffered violence to preserve them hath gently transported them upon his waves or suspending his waters as it were into Wals and Arches hath erected them Temples in his lowest Abysses But the Scripture whose every word is an Oracle teacheth us that the death of the Mysticall Body of Christ shall receive the same honours at the end of the world that his Naturall Body received in Mount Calvary For when the number of the Elect shall be perfect when Jesus Christ coming to judge the quick and the dead shall cut off the corrupted members from his Mysticall Body and remove those from his person that were united to it only by a vain Character and an unprofitable Faith the same prodigies that appeared at his death shall appear at this Judgement and according to the language of the Fathers Nature that bewailed Jesus Christ in his Naturall Body shall bewail him again in his Mysticall Body and all creatures shall put on mourning for the death of their Soveraign Finally these two Bodies shall have the same destiny after their Resurrection as they had the same during their Life for the one shall be glorified as the other and they shall both receive the recompence due to their labours The Son of God rose gloriously out of his Tomb after he had given assurance to his Apostles he was taken up into Heaven to reign there eternally with his Father The Angels made a part of his Triumph the Captives he delivered from the Lymbo's waited upon him those gates of Brasse and Steel that had been shut since the sin of Man opened at his word and his Body that was pierc'd with the nails rent with stripes torn with thorns was set at the right hand of his Father upon a Throne whose ornament was Justice and the foundation Mercy His Mysticall Body shall always receive the same glorious entertainment the Faithfull are admitted into the company of the Blessed the Saints shall reign in Heaven with the Angels they shall be mingled in their Hierarchies according to their merits and as heretofore of the Jew and Gentile was made one Church Militant of Men and Angels is daily made one Church Triumphant The bodies of the Faithfull shall accompany their souls in glory in the generall Resurrection those members that have suffered in the quarrell of Jesus Christ shall be freed from all miseries the Divine Providence shall rouze them out of their dormitories by the clattering sound of a miraculous trumpet it will find in spite of the flames those that have been burnt to ashes in spite of the waters those that have been swallowed up in the deep and working as many miracles as there shall be diversities of death to overcome shall treat the Faithfull as it hath already treated Jesus Christ so that we may say of both the Bodies of the Son of God those glorious words of the Apostle Great is the Mysterie of Godlinesse Indeed 't is a Sacrament of Piety that the Word was pleased to be allied to our nature and to the Church to have a Naturall Body and a Mysticall Body Which was manifested in the flesh both of them were manifested in the flesh because it was requisite that the Word should be made Incarnate to Espouse his Church Justified in the Spirit Both of them were justified in the Spirit because they are purely his work and the Regeneration of Beleevers is an Image of the Birth of Jesus Christ Seen of Angels Both of them appeared to Angels in that the same Spirits that waited upon the Son of God assisted his Spouse and extend their care over all her children Preached to the Gentiles beleeved on in the world Both of them were preached to the Gentiles by the Apostles and the mystery of the Incarnation joyned to that of their Vocation hath made up the best part of the Gospel Both of them were beleeved on in the world nor hath any thing more perswaded us of our future greatenesse then the condescention of the Eternall world Received up into Glory Finally both of them were exalted into Glory there to reign everlastingly that the blessedness of Iesus Christ may have its accomplishment and he be as happy in his Members as in his Person The Sixt DISCOURSE That the Church is the Spouse of Jesus Christ because she is his Body and of the Community of their Marriage ONe of the ancientest qualities of Iesus Christ is that of a Bridegroom Tanquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo Psal 18. the Prophets have honoured him with this title in the Old Testament David in the forty fifth Psalm hath made his Epithalamium and Saint Iohn who was the end of Types and Figures and the Silence of the Prophets gave out that he was the Friend of the Bridegroom But Adam is the first that descovered to us this mystery and by his marriage represented to us that of Iesus Christ with his Church For besides that his wife was taken out of his side whilst he lay asleep as the Church was out of the side of the Son of God when he was dead we know that the Laws of that marriage more respected the second Adam then the first He having neither Father nor Mother was not obliged to forsake them to cleave unto his wife But Iesus Christ at his Incarnation left his Father when he took upon him the form of a Servant and his Mother at his Passion when he suffered death for
that murmures even whilst Grace triumphs over his Liberty he hath a sense of Passions that divide his Will and hinder Charity from taking a full possession of that superiour faculty he is convinced even to his damage that as a Needle between two Loadstones though drawn away by the strongest turns notwithstanding towards the weakest so he though mastered by Grace ceaseth not to be tempted by Concupiscence and by woful experience learns that as soon as Charity suspends her vertue and moderates that sweet violence wherewith she so pleasingly ravisheth the heart he is presently trail'd on by the weight of self-love that bends him towards the Creatures I know there are a sort of new Divines that seem to place Concupiscence in man an Innocent not exempting him from that intestine war whereof the Saints complain who are perswaded that original righteousness did not accord the two parts that compose man and that their division contributing to his glory ought also to contribute to his merit But besides that I suspect this Opinion as maintained by the Pelagians Haec quae ab impudentibus impudenter laudata pudenda Concupiscentia nulla esset nisi homo ante peccasset Aug. and S. Augustine hath laid it on the ground as the foundation of their Heresie those that defend it are at least obliged to confess that if Concupiscence were in man in the state of Innocence it was not there with those disorders the Apostle of the Gentiles groaned under but that original sin giving it a new vigour there is requisite a new grace to contest against it Otherwise he had done very unmanly to complain of a revolt which was nothing but an effect of Nature and which he might easily suppress by his Will animated with as much Grace as Jesus Christ refuses not even to his enemies And the Church guided by the holy Spirit would do amiss to intreat so often for her childrens deliverance from an insurrection which cannot be bad if it were born with man in his Innocence If they answer She requests not that the Faithful be delivered from it because bad but because dangerous by the same reason they must desire that they had neither eyes nor hands because both these parts are of sad consequence to sinners If they say they pray not for the full ruine of it but for its diminution they must confess that if what they would pare away be hurtful it ought not to be in Adam nor could now be cured by his grace For as S. Augustine says excellently well the grace of Adam was the grace of a man sound and free and the grace of Jesus Christ of a man a captive and diseased this produceth two effects in his person it restores his health before it give him strength it breaks his fetters before it makes him walk and suppresseth his disorders before it makes him act This Truth will be better conceived if we compare the Liberty of Adam with the Servitude of Man a sinner that by the difference of these two states we may judge more easily of the difference of their graces Adam was as Free as Innocent nothing resisted his Will in his person and the Passions having not as yet shook off the yoke of Reason troubled not his Rest he acted with tranquillity of minde he found his pleasure in his duty nor was he sensible of any internal rebellion impeaching his liberty Thence it came to pass that his grace was subject to his Will that he used it according to his desires and his occasions either to obey his Soveraign to command his Subjects or to resist his Enemies But the sinner fallen from this glorious condition is the slave of him that hath conquered him he serves as many Masters as he hath Passions and he findes to his cost that to punish his disobedience all his subjects rebel against him The grace of Adam would be useless in this condition being not fully free he could not make use of it and being the slave of sin in whose possession he is he would employ it rather to his own ruine then to his salvation Grace must set him free before he can work must break his chains before he can fight and restore him his liberty before he can form one good designe This is it that S. Augustine teacheth us in that Chapter where making the Antithesis of Man a Sinner and Man an Innocent he saith This had a grace great indeed but much different from ours For he lived in the advantages he had received from his Creator and of his goodness held that happie condition that exempted him from all our evils But the Faithful to whom this grace appertains that delivers Captives languish in misfortunes that make them seek after Liberty Adam in the midst of the innocent delights he tasted had no need of the death of Jesus Christ but the Christians cannot be washed from their hereditary or acquired sins but by the blood of the Lamb slain for their salvation Adam stood not in need of that assistance his children require when experiencing the revolt of the Flesh against the Spirit they complain of the Law of Sin that opposeth the Law of God and by the mediation of Jesus Christ beg strength to combat and ability to overcome an enemy whose assaults Adam was never sensible of For he was not divided in Paradise but enjoying a profound peace he saw not his body warring against his soul nor one part of himself unjustly lifting up the heel against the other Proinde etsi non interim laetiore nunc verunratē potentiore gratia indigent isti Aug. Let us say then with that great Doctor that the grace of Adam was happier then ours and ours more powerful then his he might if he would have overcome amidst his delights and we triumph among our sorrows his grace gave him a Power to act ours a Will his was subject to his Will ours is her mistress and by a happie occasion we are the conquerors of Devils because the slaves of Jesus Christ It seems our Redeemer would be revenged of us in avenging us of our enemy that he disposed all things so that our victory should depend upon our overthrow and our liberty should be grounded upon our servitude because Grace tames our Will to make it victorious over sin and subjects her to it self to give her command over the Passions and in this humble submission procures us those advantages we never had possessed in the Empire of Innocence For whatever arts we use to exalt the happie condition of Adam we must confess his grace was weak because it could not maintain the freedom of his Will and leaving him to himself suffered his enemy to foil him But the grace of Jesus Christ makes us victorious in the midst of our infirmities assures our salvation among the many stormings of Temptations and seizing upon our heart makes us triumph over the world When I consider the deplorable condition of a sinner me thinks
with Grace and discover the excellency of the Remedy by the greatness of the Disease For 't is very true that a man cannot comprehend the dominion of Grace if he conceive not rightly of the tyranny of Concupiscence over the Will These two Soveraigns have so much resemblance in their contrariety that they make use of the same arms and employ the same means to execute their designes they subject men by ways altogether alike and deal with policy and power fair means and foul to make themselves mistresses For if we believe S. Augustine a man no less skilled in the state of Sin then of Grace he will acquaint us that Concupiscence is the law of the sinner acting impetuously over his Will Concupiscentia lex peccati est sequentes duxit nos postca renitentes traxi◠nos Aug. in Psal 64. applying it in all his actions so that he undertakes nothing but by the orders of this proud and domineering usurper she hath gained such a power over his Liberty that he acts onely by her impulses if he speak she moves his tongue if he looks about she ope nt his eyes if he act she manageth his hands and so absolutely commands all that belongs unto him that Concupiscence seems to inform and quicken him Though she exercise so absolute a power over his person she so well tempers sweetness with force that he never complains of his bondage he loves the Tyrant that devours him he loseth his liberty with pleasure he findes content in his vassalage and what is more unconceiveable he makes haste to a precipice and embraceth death with satisfaction whenever this cruel Soveraign commands him 'T is in effect Concupiscence that obligeth the Covetous to pass the Seas to descend into the depths and to surmount all dangers that accompany the search of riches 'T is she that engageth the Ambitious in such desperate designs where death is always mixt with glory and where a man must resolve to kill or be kill'd to purchase reputation 'T is she that imbarks the lascivious in their infamous pursuits where shame is the inseparable attendant of pleasure where a man must lose his own liberty to attain that of another and become a slave that he may be a master In the mean time if we ask all these Martyrs of Concupiscence we shall see by their answers there 's not one of them that groans under his irons that 's troubled for the loss of his honour or liberty nor makes the least attempt to break those chains that fetter him Had Tyrants but found this artifice they would raign more absolutely then Kings and making Love succeed Hatred they would be the delight of their Subjects But nothing but Concupiscence hath discovered this Secret which according Sweetness with Violence knows how to make her self belov'd and obey'd by sinners Nevertheless we must confess that Grace is as absolute over Christians and taking pattern from the proceeding of Concupiscence reigns over them with as much power as love For to express in a few words the Soveraign power of Grace we must say with S. Augustine that 't is she that makes us act that masters our Undestanding possesseth our Will Facit utvelimus bonum gratia facit ut faciamus operatu◠velle perficere praebet vires efficacissimas voluntati Aug. de Gra. Lib. arb c. 16. and is the principle of all our good works She acts with the Just as Concupiscence doth with Sinners she is the mistress of their Actions and if we believe the great Apostle 't is Grace that worketh in us to will and to do For as the Sinner loseth not his Liberty for being the slave of Concupiscence ceaseth not to act by himself though guided by another nor doth this external principle because the first mover that sets him awork exempt him from sin so the Believer is not constrained for being subject to Grace he ceaseth not to operate though moved by the holy Spirit and for having another principle of his actions then his Will fails not to merit eternal life But as Concupiscence is imperious carrying the heart by her assaults prescribing Laws which he inviolably keeps Grace produceth the same effects in the Faithful her orders are religiously observed she makes those act she enlivens and seizing upon their Wills causeth them exactly to put in execution whatever she commands S. Augustine will explain these Truths to us better then another Let us make up this Discourse with his Reasons Deus est qui operatur in nobis velle oprari non sicut isti sentiunt tantummodo Scientiam revelando ut novetimus quod faciamus sed etiam inspirando charitatem ut ea quae discenso novimus etiam diligendo faciamus Aug. and respectfully hear the learnedst Doctor of the Church Grace is not onely a Light that clears the Understanding as Faith or Doctrine doth her Charity is accompanied with Force she produceth two effects at the same time For having taught us the good she gives us power to perform it and he that knows it and does it not cannot boast that he hath received it of Grace but from the Law Therefore is it that our Lord Jesus Christ saith in S. John that he that is taught of his Father fails not to come unto him Omnis qui audivit à Patre didicit venit ad me Whence S. Augustine concludes that he that is instructed in this School always goes to Jesus Christ and he that goes not never had the Father for his Master For Grace warms the Will at the same time it enlightens the Understanding it conveys light and heat both together and working two miracles at one moment fortifies our Weakness and warms our Coldness Her manner of acting is much more excellent then that of Precept or of the Law For these two Mistresses strike onely the ears or the eyes they inform not our judgement but by the mediation of our Senses and though they enlighten the Understanding they change not the Will But Grace works by an occult power in the hearts of men producing there not onely true illuminations but good and constant resolutions And because the Pelagians always confound Doctrine with Grace to weaken her vertue S. Augustine answers them that would they christen her with that name they must represent a wonderful Doctrine that God sheds abroad internally in the soul with an ineffable sweetness which taught not onely Truth but infused Charity into its disciples He more strongly establisheth this Maxime in explaining that passage where S. Paul tells us God worketh in us to will and to do we will saith this great Doctor for we are not liveless trunks or sensless rocks but God produceth in us this will we act for we ought not to be unprofitable but God produceth in us this action according to his good pleasure we are bound to say it and to believe it 't is piety to promote it that we may with all humility
confess that all we do is rather of God then of our selves He says the same thing again speaking of Perseverance and perswades all the Faithful that their salvation ought to be founded upon their humility because God hath indued them with Graces whereby they are made acquainted with his power and their own weakness For he will not have the Saints glorifie themselves for their perseverance in good out of their own abilities but from the assistance of his Grace neither hath he given them a succour equal to that he bestowed upon the first man whereby he might have persevered if he would because foreseeing that they would not persevere had they not from him the power and the wil he hath given them both out of his pure mercy Indeed their will is so effectually warm'd by the holy Spirit that they are able to doe the good because they wil and they will it because God hath inspir'd them with a will to it For did God abandon them to themselves in this infirmity which serves as a remedy against their pride and did he give them no other assistance but that by which Adam might have persevered if he would they would stoop to the assaults of temptations in the frailty of their flesh nor would they ever persevere because the weakness of their will would not suffer them to will the good at all or to will it so strongly as to doe it Therefore God desiring to succour their misery hath given them a grace that so moves this rationall faculty that she never resists it that in her weakness she may be vigorous enough to surmount all the adversities of life But because these manners of speeches might perswade the ignorant that a grace that acts so energetically would destroy liberty Saint Augustine instructs us that her force consists in her sweetness that she works upon the will only by the pleasure she there produceth nor that she is victorious but because she is agreeable This is the second truth that remains to be proved to satisfie my promise and to manifest the last resemblance between Concupiscence and Charity Though the former be sometimes so violent that she hardly leaves the sinner any liberty to resist she never employs force to extort his consent she is not of the humour of those tyrants which make use of nothing but torments to reduce their subjects to their designs and knowing that Empires are preserv'd by the same means they are acquired endeavour to keep that by cruelty they have gotten by violence But she corrupts the wil by pleasure proposing nothing but what is delightful she dexterously mixeth smiles with frowns profit with loss glory with shame and so artificially disguiseth the objects shee presents sinners with that they complain not even in the midst of their torments 'T is shee that sweetens the laborious travels of Conquerors charms the discontents of the Covetous comforts the Lascivious in the tortures that accompany their wantonness she gilds the chaines of al lthe slaves that follow her makes them acceptable when she cannot make them glorious sowing pleasure where shee cannot sow profit nor reputation Thence it comes to passe that her Empire is so firmly established among finners that to destroy it grace must change their wils subduing the vanity of their criminall pleasures by the truth of her innocent delights For she walks in the steps of her enemy she imitates her she intends to ruine and benefiting by her wiles she never sets upon the will of a sinner but she is seconded with pleasure her chiefe Stratagem is to render vertue agreeable to take off that austerity that suffers her not to be accosted and to lay all her Stoicall morosity upon the face of sin This is it that Saint Augustine declares by those words where he exhorts a sinner to be converted Confess your selves saith he in the presence of Almighty God and you shall obtain from his bounty that the vertue which seem'd so stern will seem sweet and easie When he hath wrought this first miracle you shal finde that facil which now you apprehend as impossible you shall have as much satisfaction in justice as formerly you had in iniquity Sobriety will relish better then drunkenness you will discern more charms in Alms then in Robbery and taste a farre richer pleasure in giving your own then in taking that of your neighbour Prayer will out-vie the Pastimes of the Theatre Psalmes and Hymnes will entertain you better then amorous Sonnets or the Aires of the Court you will goe to Church more chearfully then ever you went to a Play and reflecting upon the change of your heart you will acknowledge Grace the cause thereof and that the barren ground of your soul bare no fruits but because the Lord hath been pleased to water it with the perfumes of his Divine Influences For 't is an undoubted Maxime that Good though never so excellent begins not to be desired till it begin to be pleasurable Though it have more charms then beauty more lustre then glory more invitations then profit if it convey not pleasure into the will it knows not how to beget love Pleasure is the Load-stone that draws all hearts that are capable of love 't is the poyson that distils into the heart of all sinners and the only answer they return those that condemn them They oppose nothing but pleasure against all reproaches and when truth it self accuseth them they have but one reason wherewith to defend themselves they cannot forsooth leave that they take so much delight in Indeed they would never sin did not pleasure solicit them nor would the Devil ever master their will did he not make use of pleasure to gain their consent He employs the same devices against them he did against our first Father he makes use of the flesh to gain the spirit as he dealt with the woman to seduce the man he tries by suggestion to produce pleasure in his heart that pleasure may quicken sin He knows that this Commander is too free to be compell'd but he knows also that he is too amorous to hold out if he call not in another to his aid whereby he may be defended This also is the way God deals with souls to gain them he useth not his power but his sweetness he employs not his threats but his promises and when he intends to vanquish a creature he makes not use of pain but of pleasure he combates sensual delights with spiritual ones he opposeth the charms of vertue against the allurements of sin he inspires thoughts so sweet and so powerful that they blot out all those of the Earth and knowing very well that the Will always complies with the more predominant delectation that solicits her he is content to be lik't that he may be victorious For if Concupiscence contest with Grace about the conquest of a heart she that promiseth the highest pleasure shall prevail and though never so free the Helen will be overcome by the
Answer he returns to these Philosophers 'T is a great argument of a firm Will not to be able to change and we are not to imagine that a man will not a thing when he wills it so strongly that 't is not in his power not to will it at all For who is so unadvised as to deny that the Wil is free when she is no longer in danger to quit her resolution to embrace a contrary nay who ought not rather to judge that she is never so free as when her resolution is so firm that it becomes eternal Indeed if we believe he wills a thing who may not will it Must we not believe that he wills it much more when he wills it so powerfully that he is past all danger of not willing it But he could not better resolve this Doubt then when opposing Constraint against Necessity he saith The later may be found with Liberty and if we have no obligation to a man that does us a courtesie because he was forced to it we have notwithstanding to him that does it because he cannot do otherwise and hath imposed this necessity upon himself with which he cannot possibly dispense This opinion hath its Reasons to back it and though it seem somewhat singular hath notwithstanding Philosophers for its Protectors whose judgement 't is that the Will is never more free then when 't is less indifferent For if Liberty say they be nothing but a fixation of the Will we must acknowledge that she is never more free then when by many indifferent acts she is so united to her object that she cannot possibly undo her self Otherwise perfect Love would deprive us of Liberty the use of that power would destroy it and it would follow that to have a long time acted freely we should cease to be free They confess that Indifferency which they look upon as a weakness of Liberty is lessened by the power of Love and the more strongly a man affects a thing the less indifferencie hath he to quit it But they believe you shall never perswade a Lover that the loss of his Indifferency is the loss of his Liberty that the more his Passion increaseth the more his worth diminisheth and for being more constant he is less acceptable to her he loveth There are some Divines of the opinion of these Philosophers who finding no Indifferency in Jesus Christ nor in the Blessed cannot imagine it inseparable from Liberty For Jesus Christ was free because he merited the reconciliation of men with his Father he was free because he satisfied for their sins and all the hope of their salvation is founded as well upon the Liberty as upon the Dignity of his actions Etiamsi esset liberuÌ„ arbitrium Christi determinatum ad unum numero sicut ad diligendum Deum quod non facere non potest tamen ex hoc non amittit libertatem aut rationem laudis sive meritiâ—nam respectu amoris est sempiterna libera electio D. Thom. In the mean time he had no Indifference in respect of Good and Evil the will of his Father determined his without constraining it he died necessarily and freely and seeing his sentence noted in the thought of his Father he submitted to it by an obedience which not being indifferent ceased not therefore to be perfectly free Finally they cannot be perswaded that the Saints have lost their Liberty in the enjoyment of Glory for having lost their Indifferency They cannot believe that the Blessed are slaves that their love is not free because necessary and that the firmness of their condition cancels the perfection of their Liberty They adde further that no man shall perswade them that Grace which is Glory begun deprives us of Liberty when it deprives us of Indifferency not that it reduceth us to the condition of Slaves because it brings us neer to that of the Blessed But as all agree not upon the same Principles Other Divines leaning upon Reason and Scripture will have Indifference inseparable from Liberty in this world that men may always will Good and Evil and that they are never so strongly determined to the one but they may quit it to embrace the other They judge that Grace does not so fix the Will upon Good that it takes away her Indifferency but that there remains some inclination or some capacity towards Evil so that even when she is determined by Grace she hath still in the centre of her Being a certain Indifferency making her capable to change her minde and to depart from the Supreme Good that possesseth her According to this Principle we must say that as Grace transporting us leaves us a power to resist so also determining us an Indifferency That as we may hold out so may we change if we will and consequently there is no moment wherein our Will is not always Indifferent By this 't is easie to judge that the Councel of Trent opposeth not this Opinion Siquis dixerit Liberum arbitrium à Deo motum non posse dissentire si velit seâ—velut inanime quoddam nihil omnino agere â—nathema sit Sess 6. Can. 4. when it pronounceth an Anathema against those that say that Free-will being moved by Grace cannot resist it when it will because whatever advantage we put upon Grace we acknowledge she never takes away the power of resisting of God confessing she leaves us Concupiscence which holds our Wil under her Tyranny For there are no Saints who at the very instant they yeeld obedience to Grace prove not internally a secret opposition to her motions who groan not to see themselves divided by self-love and who sigh not with Saint Paul in that they feel in the recesses of their soul an irregular inclination that combats that of Grace This domestick sedition makes them long for Glory which hath this advantage over Grace that destroying all the remainders of sin and confirming their will in Good it lifts them to a condition which suffers them no longer to contradict the pleasures of the Almighty But in expectation of this happie hour they confess with as much confusion of face as grief of heart that though they will not resist him that draws them they can nevertheless do it because Grace hath not so strongly rooted them in good but they may forsake it should the mercy of God give them over to their own infirmity 'T is then easie enough to comprehend that Grace though effectual takes not away from the greatest Saints the power to resist Jesus Christ But 't is very hard to conceive how their complaints are true and how they can with reason accuse themselves for having been unfaithful to him For the accusations of Saints ought to be sincere humility must not make them renounce Truth nor to avoid Pride engage in a Lye These are two extremes equally dangerous which all those that are led by the holy Spirit ought carefully to avoid In the mean time they accuse themselves daily before Men
assistance to his creature to act with pleads no dispensation for himself from those Laws he hath prescribed nay is helpfull to his very enemies that he may not be wanting to his Word It seems that in the order of Grace he owes the same faithfulness to Christians that he is bound to assist them in all their actions and out of an obligation that no way injures his Greatness because worthy his Goodness he ought in some sort to concur with the faithful in all their operations Gratia redditur pro gratia cum Christiano propter Christi merita id quod petit conceditur Bernard For seeing they have the honour to be the Members of his Son seeing they are quickned with his Spirit and bear a glorious Character separating them from all other creatures why will he not at every moment indulge them a Grace necessary for their condition and as it were due to the dignity of their extraction I conceive this objection hath its full weight and I have set it forth in all the colours that may render it reasonable Let us see whether Truth will furnish us with Arms to batter it and whether the doctrine of Saint Augustine will warrant the Son of God from injustice when he refuseth his Grace to the Faithful To back our Answer we must suppose that the order of Nature and that of Grace are very different in the first order God seems to be in some sort responsible to his creature he never dispenseth with himselfe but by miracle when he refuseth his aid to a sinner makes the hand wither that is about to commit a Parricide or ties the tongue that was going to utter a blasphemy every one looks upon these effects as Prodigies But he owes nothing to his creature in the second order he entred not into it but by Grace nor doth he persevere in it but by Mercy In raising him to this state he is not tied to any rules what he hath once given obliges him not to continue and when he receives a sinner into his Church 't is with conditions which no ways prejudice his Soveraignty Inasmuch as he shews favour to whom he will we can plead no prescription against his Goodness he may every moment take away that succour he hath bestowed and he is so absolute in the order of Grace that when he deserts the just themselves they have no more right to complain then the guilty If they look upon themselves in Adam they are all sinners the sentence of their Condemnation preceded their Birth Vnde constat magnam esse gratiam quod plurimi liberantur quid sibi deberetur in iis qui non liberantur agnoscunt ut qui gloriantur non in suis meritis quae paria videntur esse in damnatis sed in Domino glorientur Aug. and when they were drawn out of the masse of perdition to be united to Jesus Christ 't is but for a time only if they be not written in the Book of Life in Eternal Characters This Answer is taken out of the pure Doctrine of Saint Augustine 't is founded upon his principles and he that makes a difficulty to receive it will not be a Disciple of that great Master But because it seems too severe to those that are not instructed in his School who consider not sufficiently the absolute power Divine Justice hath reserv'd to it self over the reprobate let us adde here this temperament and say that Christians have some right to Grace whilst they are united to Jesus Christ and that they may obtain it by Prayer when they find too much difficulty in good or too much engagement in evil But this Answer starts a new Objection and seems to combat the power of Grace in labouring to establish the facility of Prayer For if by the mediation of this vertue we can obtain every thing our salvation is in our own hands and we may purchase Grace by Supplication I acknowledge this Objection grounded not only upon the Principles of Saint Augustine but even upon the Principles of Religion it self For Scripture exhorts all sinners to prayer proposeth it to us as a help in all our needs Petite dabitur vobis quae rite invenietis pulsate aperietur vobis Mat. 7. and as a remedy for all our evils it seems 'tis enough to be a believer to be able to pray and that the Son of God having taught us the Lords Prayer hath furnished us with arms for our defence against the justice of his Father Saint Augustine following the steps of Jesus Christ teacheth us in a thousand places of his writings that the Law discovers vertue to us and Prayer obtains it that 't is the guard of Christians surmounting all temptations sweetning all difficulties and triumphing over Devils If then we are able to pray we are able to persevere if what is not due to our merits be granted to our prayers we may thereby obtain the Grace that is the Beginning and the End of our Salvation I confess this Objection puzzles me nor does the ordinary Answer made to it at all satisfie me For though Grace be requisite to pray though it is the Holy Spirit that puts the thoughts into our soul the affections into our heart and words into our mouthes though a prayer that is not warm'd with his heats is not acceptable to the Eternal Father we must neverthelesse confess either that Grace to pray is always offered to ns or that we have no means to make our addresses to God in our needs Therefore is it that Holy Scripture invites us every where to prayer The Son of God tels us that it offers a pleasing violence that it changeth his will sweetens his severitie and obtains all Graces it requests of him Si ergo vos cum sitis mali bona datis filiis vestris quanto magis pater vester qui in coelis est dabit bona petentibus se Mat. 7. Ne orationes putarentur praecedere merita quibus non gratuita daretur gratia sed jam nec gratia esset quia debita redderetur etiam ipsa oratio inter gratiae munera reperitur Aug. Epist ad Sixtum 105. I know indeed that Saint Paul teacheth us also that we know not how to pray as we ought unless the Holy Spirit teacheth us and that this Grace precedes our prayers as well as our good works Saint Augustine is of the same judgement when explaining that passage he saith in express tearms that to secure us from vanity which may perswade us that our prayer precedes Grace it is ranked by the Apostle among the gifts of the Spirit In this perplexity I can say nothing else but that the Grace of Prayer is more common then other graces that 't is frequently offered to Christians that God refuseth it none but those that undervalue it that 't is the principal cause of our Conversion and that if by this unhappy power which remains in us we resist not the
souls light and certitude Having considered its essence 't is fit we consider its properties and effects which are so great it self must come in to gain them belief For the Scripture seems to attribute to Faith whatever is most august and reverential in Scripture It is the Principle of spiritual life and according to the language of Saint Paul the just doth live by Faith For though the lise of a Christian be composed of many parts Initium bonae vitae cui vita etiam debetur aeterna rectafides est Aug. as the body is of many members and to be in a vigorous condition which is the symptome of perfect health Faith must be animated with good works nevertheless Faith is the first principle and without it every one confesseth all vertues are dead or languishing Therefore when S. Bernard calls Charity the life of the soul he acknowledgeth at the same time that Faith conceives her Hope brings her forth the holy Spirit forms her Reading suckles her Meditation nourisheth her and Prayer fortifies her As Faith is the life of the soul so is it also the eye and he that takes it not for his Guide shall never come to Glory it enlightens all the other vertues and penetrates those clouds of darkness that surround them 'T is also an observation S. Bernard hath made that Christ was never so closely hid but Faith always discovered him If he be Incarnate in the womb of his mother Faith does him homage in the person of S. John If he be born in a manger Faith adores him with the Wise-men and acknowledgeth the Word in Infancie Majestie in Baseness and Power in Infirmity If he be presented in the Temple Faith receives him in the arms of Simeon and makes his Elogie by the mouth of that aged Saint If he enter the river of Jordan to be baptized among sinners Faith manifests him by the testimony of his Precursor and teacheth us that he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world If he die upon the Cross or lose his honour with his life Faith acknowledgeth his Innocence in the midst of his Punishment and begs a share in his Kingdom by the mouth of the good Thief If he be veiled upon our Altars and the outward species of the Sacrament conceal him from our eyes Faith adores him in the person of Believers and discovers his splendour under the clouds that encompass him This made S. Bernard utter those excellent words That Faith was very quick-sighted because it acknowledged Christ born in the Manger and dying upon the Cross But as if one sole vertue made up all our Glory I finde that our highest qualities take their being from its merit For if we be the children of God 't is because we are Believers and the great Apostle that describes the prerogatives of Mans nature discovering the humiliations of the Word Incarnate observes expresly that the quality of the children of God is an appendix of Faith and that heaven shall not be our inheritance but because this vertue was the principle of our Filiation He gave them power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in his Name This august quality is not indulged us in Baptism but because there we receive Faith and 't is so truely the effect of that Sacrament that the Believer that gives proof of his Creed in the midst of torments fails not to be the childe of God though he be not baptized If Faith advance us to dignity it also communicates power to us it gives Reputation to our Dominion that it grow not contemptible and makes us in some sort absolute in the State of our Master For the gift of Miracles is a priviledge of Faith These Prodigies that astonish the Universe convert Nations make Tyrants tremble tame Devils are donatives heaven hath promised to Faith rather then to Charity Every thing is possible to him that believeth this vertue may boast it self absolute and as if it were inseparable from Soveraignty it seems he that is a Believer becomes powerful Those men of renown whose Elogies Saint Paul makes in his Epistles owe all their priviledges to Faith 'T is by it that they subdued Tyrants changed Nature disordered the Seasons and altered the Elements It serves us for a Conduct in Peace and a Defence in War and whenever the Apostle arms the Christians he gives them nothing but Faith either to assault or repel their enemies He Christens one and the same thing with divers names and calling it sometimes a Buckler sometimes a Brestplate sometimes a Sword lets us see that 't is sufficient to procure as many victories as it stands assaults or sights battels Finally it seems God takes pleasure to fasten our Power to our Infirmity and treating us like Samson all whose strength lay in his hair he will teach all the world that the Miracles we work are not so much the effects of our Ability as of his Grace For Faith is nothing but a submission of minde and a blinde obedience which holding more of Credulity then Argument seems rather a mark of our Weakness then of our Strength In the mean time the Son of God that hath a minde to humble us in raising us up and to manifest his greatness in our abasement hath founded our ability upon belief and is pleased that the gift of Miracles should be the recompence of our Credulity But nothing more astonisheth me Creditis quia hopossum faccrevobis dicunt ci Utique Domine Tunctetigit ocu los corū diceus Secundum filem vestrā fiat vobis Matth. 9. then to consider that God hath in some sort subjected his own Power to our Faith and before he would heal the sick or raise the dead he requires our Belief as a preparative to his Miracles For he never undertook any Cure but he obliged the Patient to believe and if he were not in a condition to use his own Understanding he demanded that disposition in the Assistants or Witnesses The same Evangelist observes that his power was manacled by the Infidelity of sinners Et non poterat ibi virtutem ullam facere mirabatur propter incredulitatem corum Matth. 6. and that there were some Towns where he could work no Miracles because he found no Faith among them We need not wonder that the Son of God hath so greatly honoured this vertue because it gives him so much obedience and that of all the Sacrifices the Christian can offer him this seems the hardest and most honourable For it makes an Oblation of our Understanding takes from us the liberty of reasoning in our Mysteries it perswades us what we understand not and contesting at the same time against Reason and Sense makes a perfect Holocaust of the Christian It reduceth that insolent undertaker who would know every thing in Paradise to believe all without knowing any thing it makes him purchase Faith with the expence of his Reason and it seems
deceives men by the vanity of its promises This then is uncertain doubt makes up a part of its Essence and by a misfortune inseparable from it it ceaseth to be Hope as soon as it begins to be sure Therefore Seneca said she promised a doubtfull good and to her very favourites leaves all things dubious and uncertain But the Hope of a Christian is sure his certitude commensurate and all men that define it make it synonimous with Assurance That of Men is false what-ever fair colours its promises are dress'd with it cannot avoyd the denomination of a Lye Therefore the same Scripture that calls it uncertain calls it a lying vanity and finding nothing vain enough whereby to expresse its essence compares it to Dreams that abuse men in their sleep Vana spes mendacium viro insensato somnia extollunt imprudentem so that those that give ear unto it are like those poor Dreamers who being rich onely whilest they sleep lose all as soon as they awake their sleep enricheth them and when they awake they are plundred of all and reduc'd to their former poverty But the Hope of a Christian is true and being founded upon the promises of God who cannot lie never deludes the Beleever that listens to them If that of Men be false we need not wonder that it is miserable and for those imaginary contentments it allures us with gives nothing but reall pains For though we may flatteringly apprehend her as the most agreeable passion and endeavour to perswade our selves that she sweetens the disquietnesse of our longings true Philosophy confesseth her the cause of our Fear Desines sperare desines timere Senec. and that the only means to be free from distrustfull apprehensions is to be free from hope But the Hope of a Christian is accompanied with confidence and so close united to pleasure that it passeth for one part of our Felicity Finally the Hope of Worldlings is so often faulty that the Scripture calls it an Abomination and makes us know that all the pretences of sinners are nothing but Crimes The Lascivious promiseth himself nothing but Adulteries the Ambitious nought but Tyrannies the Furious plots vengeance the Covetous feeds himself with unjust gains and all of them saith S. Gregory never acknowledge their sin till the pleasure is past and grief succeds in the place thereof But the Hope of a Christian is Innocent produceth just desires in their souls and the Good they wait for makes them commence Saints upon Earth that they be perfected in heaven The Fifth DISCOURSE The Description of Christian Charity DIvinity teacheth us that God is so infinite that to expresse all his Greatnes he must have as many names as hee hath perfections Therefore is it that the Scripture calls him sometimes a Sun because his brightness dissipates the darkness of our hearts and discovers our intentions from the very depth of our wills Sometimes he is calld a Heaven because his Immensity incircles all his works and comprehends in his Nature whatever he produceth by his Power Sometimes hee is stiled a devouring Fire because he consumes our sins and because his holines more active then that Element burnes the souls of the Saints whom it purifieth Sometimes he is called a Flower because his beauty ravisheth us his odour perfumes us and his splendour dazels us In as much as Charity is his noblest and most excellent expression the Scripture handleth it with the same respect and perceiving that it cannot manifest all its Excellencies by one single name gives it as many Appellations as this Vertue hath different qualities And because every name is a kind of a Definition I beleive I ought to rehearse them in this Discourse which will contribute very much towards the knowledge of the Excellencies of Charity Saint John the Evangelist whom we may call the Disciple of Love as well as of Light Deus charitas est qui manet in charitate in Deo manet Deus in eo 1 Joh. 4. teacheth us that God is Charity and though in this definition he pretends not to perswade us that the Charity which makes us love God is God himselfe yet his design is to inform us that there is nothing can more happily transform us into God then this vertue because he vouchsafes to bear the name thereof and of all the things in the world there is none that expresse his Greatness in so noble an Hieroglyphick Therefore Saint Augustine ravished with this Speech hath uttered that which gives us the meaning thereof God is Charitie a short Elogie but exceeding great short in words but great in sense If you inquire how many Gods there are this Definition will tell you but one and if you ask what he is will assure you he is Love St. Bernard who following the steps of St. Augustine reviv'd his opinions in France Deus Charitas est quid pretiosius qui manet in charitate in Deo manet quid securius Deus in eo quid jucundius Bern. and made us see that in the matter of Grace we need consult no other Oracle heightens this Definition with as much learning as Eloquence God saith he is Charity what more precious he that abides in Charity abides in God what more secure and God abides in him what condition more agreeable Indeed we cannot possesse Charity in our hearts but together with it we must have the Divine Essence and their Union is so inseparable that the one cannot bee lost without the other This gave the Apostle of the Gentiles occasion to call Charity the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost because being the chiefest of his Gifts he never produceth it in a soul but he alwayes enters together with it Light is never dis-joyn'd from the Sun and if it be true that this noble quality subsisted some daies without adhering to that glorious Star the same power that united them may again separate them But the Holy Spirit and Charity are indivisible this fire is never without heat this Sun is never without brightnes and all Scripture would be false if Charity were not a certain proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our souls The same Apostle whom we stile the Panegyrist of Charity assures us that it is the fulfilling of the Law and the accomplishment of the Decalogue Indeed he lives holily that loves the Supream Good and at the same time those that may enjoy it with him He is perfect saith S. Augustine that can regulate his affection and govern himself with so much justice that he loves what is amiable and hates what is odious and proportioning his charity to the merit of the objects loves that differently which he cannot love equally Therefore is there not so great a necessity in reading holy Books in diving into the mysteries of Scripture to search out the meaning of the Prophets because in exercising Charity we may boast we have fullfilled all we have understood all Therefore saith the
in her Empire Fortitude combats those things that rise against us defends us from our enemies scatters all those evils whosâ— pomps hath no other design but to weaken our courage Justice looks after that which is beside or above us makes us render to God our Soveraign and to our neighbour our equal what of due belongs unto them and parting our obligations according to their conditions bindes us to love the former above our selves and the later as our selves If as it is very likely these Vertues respect our rest and quietness they deliver us from four inconveniences which may exceedingly trouble us For many times we prefer an imaginary apparent Good before a real one and from this errour Prudence secures us we desert a Good because difficult and from this cowardise Fortitude rouzeth us we seek after some pleasing but unprofitable or pernicious Good and this pitfal Temperance teacheth us to avoid or lastly we desire something advantageous to our selves but prejudicial to our neighbour and this iniquity Justice forbids obliging us to preserve the interest of another as our own But whatever succour the Christian can draw from these vertues he must confess they reproach him with his miseries and exprobate him with his crimes For Prudence informs him that he is in banishment where Good and Evil are mixt together and where he is in danger to mistake as often as he hath occasion to chuse Temperance teacheth him that he hath inordinate Passions that must be supprest that he nourisheth monsters in his person which must be strangled but that the disease over-tops the remedy because Prudence dissipates not the darkness of his Ignorance nor doth Temperance regulate all the disorders of his Appetite Justice tells him he must submit his spirit to God his body to his spirit but the resistance he findes makes him sadly feel that earth is not the mansion of Peace nor this life the time of Triumph Finally Fortitude which obligeth him to combat Grief is an argument that he is still criminal because he still remains miserable The Eighth DISCOURSE Of the Humility of a Christian IT is a strange thing but withal exceeding true that of all the Vertues there is none more natural nor yet a greater stranger to Man then Humility For she is born with him he carries the principles thereof in his soul and in his body in that the one is drawn out of Nothing the other is formed out of the Slime of the earth He must forget his extraction to give the least admittance to Vain-glory and he need onely study and minde himself to be sensibly affected with Humility Therefore said an Ancient that Pride was a stranger-vice and Humility a natural vertue In the mean time Man was never more arrogant then since he became so wretchedly miserable That which ought to take down his spirit hath raised it and the misery that should have taught him Humility hath made him quite forget so commendable a vertue She was unknown to the Heathen her name which we account so glorious was infamous among them nor was it ever ascribed to any actions but those that deserved blame It was necessary that Christian grace should revive her and that her light should discover the beauties of this unknown vertue Indeed she had no credit with men till the mystery of the Incarnation God must be abased that we may learn this lesson and his examples must perswade humane wilfulness that true greatness consists in lowe deportment Though this Vertue takes her merit from her Master and her glory is very remarkable in having God for her Author yet must we confess that in her own nature she is of very high esteem and that her proper intrinsecal excellency gives worth and value to her For she seems to include all the Cardinal vertues and to comprehend all their advantages in her essence She partakes of Prudence because she is illuminated and knows the greatness of God and the meanness of the Creature She hath something of Temperance because she bridles the pleasure that vanity promiseth and defends her self from that agreeable enemy who makes use of praises onely to deceive us She shares with Fortitude because she combats shame and grief which frequently accompany base and unworthy actions Finally she is an image of Justice because she treats the Creator and the Creature with so much equity and rendering Glory to the one reserves nothing but Contempt for the other But lest we should think her riches are meerly the spoils of another that she hath none but borrowed excellencies nor is at all considerable but for the alms she receives from other vertues we shall do well to consider her nature and to be acquainted with her by weighing her definition Humility according to S. Augustine is a voluntary debasement of the soul before God in the sight of her own condition which representing her Nothingness reads her this lesson that none can preserve her but he that created her This great man expresly joyns the Creature with the Creator in this definition for Man looking onely upon himself might easily grow proud at the sight of his own priviledges when he looks up to God compares the Creature with the Creator confronting two things opposite by such an infinite distance he is obliged to fall lowe upon his face if his Pride exceed not that of the devil Therefore did that afflicted Prince who would perswade his friends that his being miserable was no argument he was criminal change his language when he had compared his own defects with the perfections of God and confess there was no creature so holy that was not guilty before him Now mine eye seeth thee and therefore I abhor my self As if he would have said Whilst I compared my actions with those of men I cherished a high opinion of my vertue but when thy light had cleared my spirit and I beheld that holiness whereby thou art so gloriously separated from thy works I prevent thy arrest and forgetting my innocence pass sentence of condemnation upon my self This is the apprehension of Humility and whenever Man is tempted to Pride this lowliness of minde presents him before God in his nature in his person in his actions in his Nature that he is miserable in his Person that he is criminal in his Actions that he is unconstant and wavering Others define Humility a disesteem that Man conceives of his own excellency inasmuch as he hath not any thing which was not given him by Grace and may not be taken away by Justice For this wretch lives but upon loan In the height of his Innocence he was but many creatures in gross and it seems that God to oblige him to Humility made him up of borrowed pieces He takes his Being from the Elements his Life from Plants his Sense from Animals and his Understanding from Angels So that should he return every Creature what he hath received all that would remain to him would be his Nothingness and
dead serve for a nourishment to the living and to give him a resurrection by an artifice which can find no excuse but in the excesse of that passion that gave it a being Thus we read that disconsolate Artemisia having lost her dear Mausolus Mortui cineres vino commistos ebibit memoriae ejus tam splendidum sepulchrum erexit ut magnifica monumenta deinceps Mausolea ab illius nomine fuerint appellaii Gelli lib. 10. cap. 18. could not satisfie her love but by swallowing his ashes thereby to be united to him and to make him still co-habit with her Her grief spared nothing that might comfort an afflicted wife in honouring the memory of so dearly a beloved husband she employed the most famous Orators of her time to sweeten her sorrows and to make the Panegyrick of him she had lost she erected a staely monument which passeth for one of the seven wonders of the world and having not seen any Tomb that can equal its magnificence gives a denomination to this day to those of the the greatest Monarchs of the Universe But inasmuch as nothing can content the extremity of love and ordinary remedies doe but aggravate a violent sorrow this afflicted lover resolved to drink the ashes of her dead husband Vt esset vivum spirans conjugis sepulchrū that changing them into her substance she might expire with him or he survive together with her Me thinks the Son of God compleated in the Eucharist what love engaged this amorous Princess to attempt For being united to us in this Sacrament and converting us into himself by the mighty working of his infinite Power we may say he re-animates ashes because he raiseth the dead and converts sinners So that of all the alliances he hath contracted with us we must needs acknowledge this the closest and most intimate 'T was certainly a great testimony of his love when he was incarnate in the chast Womb of his Virgin Mother and clothing himself with our flesh took upon him the burden of our sins and of the punishments due unto them it was a consequence of this love when he vouchsafed to converse with us and treating us as his brethren gave us part in the inheritance of his glory It was a proof of his compassion when he became our Advocate to his Father pleaded our Cause before his Throne and to purchase an act of oblivion for all our transgressions mingled his tears with his bloud in the garden of Olives It was me thinks the utmost expression of his love when he became our Surety upon the Crosse loaded himself with our sins to enrich us with his merits and made an exchange with us which cost him his life and procured us salvation Nevertheless all these favours united him not with men and when he was our Brother Cum autem datur in cibum unio perfecta est uniuntur enim in unitate corporis cibus qui cibum sumit Di. Tho. our Advocate our Surety he was not one person with us But in the Eucharist wherein he is our nourishment his love hath found out the secret of incorporating us with him he yet unites man with God he repeats the Mystery of the Incarnation he does that in favour of all men which he only did for Humanity and he works a thousand times one miracle in the Bosome of the Church which he acted but once in the Womb of his Mother For if we compare the Eucharist with the Incarnation we shall find that in the one God is made Man in the other Men became Gods In the one he is united to our nature in the other to our person in the one he is invested with our miseries in the other he apparels us with his greatness But because in all these Alliances we meet not with that of Mother he is willing that his body conceived by the Virgin should be also produced by the Priests upon our Altars that they might be his parents and might boast that the Incarnation hath no preeminence above the Eucharist For the Scripture teacheth us that Jesus Christ in his birth is the work of the holy Ghost and of the Virgin both these persons became mutually pregnant Mary restores to the holy Ghost what she received from him and when she became the Mother of the Son of God he became the Principle The same Jesus in his Passion is the work of sinners they condemn him to death by the mouth of Pilate nail him to the Cross by the hands of the Executioners and despoil him of his honour and his life by the outrages of the Jews In the Resurrection he is the pure work of his Father he it is that draws him from the grave who gives him the recompence of his labours exalts him to glory and makes him raign everlastingly with him But in the Eucharist he is the work of the Priests 't is their word that makes him present upon our Altars their intention that makes him descend from heaven in the name of all the Faithful these are the powerful Ministers that conceive him and bring him forth that this holy Sacrament may perfect all the Alliances the mystery of the Incarnation had begun and that we may have this consolation to know that there is no union in Nature we contract not with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist The Sixth DISCOURSE Of the dispositions the Christian ought to bring with him to receive this Nourishment IF it be a truth that great benefits require great acknowledgements we must confess that extraordinary Mysteries require extraordinary dispositions nor that they must otherwise be approacht unto then with that reverence which is due to sacred things 'T is a Sacriledge to have to do with them with a prophane spirit and we do but expose our selves to the indignation of heaven when we think to partake of them without that preparation their stupendious holiness doth require The Levites were not admitted to the service of the Altar before they were purified The High-Priest went not into the Sanctuary of the Temple till he had expiated his sins by the blood of a Sacrifice neither did the Prophets deliver Oracles to the people till the holy Spirit who spake with their mouth resided in their heart The Eucharist therefore being the most august of our Mysteries obligeth us to very great and reverential dispositions Each quality 't is attended with exacts a particular preparation and all the titles it bears demand of the receivers as many different vertues Inasmuch as it is the most hidden Mystery of our Religion whose wonders deceive our eyes whose lustre dazzles the sunshine of our neerest observation the manner of Christs residing there being altogether imperceptible to our Senses and unconceiveable to our Understandings we are obliged to bring along with us much Faith and little Reasoning a blinde obedience is a Sacrifice that must accompany this oblation of the Son of God upon our Altars and at the same time
the Eucharist the Consummation hereof we have engaged our word when we were admitted into the Church and receiving the character of our servitude we have given bond for our Faithfulness But in the Mystery of the Eucharist he deals with our souls as with his Spouse we become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone he enters into our bosome and we into his his body and ours are animated with the same Spirit and partaking in all the qualities of our Beloved we have right to his most glorious priviledges But so noble an Alliance requires a great affection and much fidelity This Lover is jealous he will raign alone in the hearts that he possesseth as he cannot endure a Competitor in his State so neither can he a Rival in his Love he will have nothing loved but for his sake and because our adhesion to the Creature is not without imperfections he never beholds it without grief nor leaves it without punishment Whatever is prejudicial to Fidelity displeaseth he never breaks his word and therefore cannot endure we should fail of our duty He will keep what he hath once gotten and seeing his Power is equal to his Love he is as severe in his Revenge as he is liberal in his Favours When I consider the obligations we have to his Goodness I never wonder that his Justice corrects us but I am ashamed there should be any souls so negligently careless as to provoke him and that after so many favours any should be so wretched as to betray their duty and abandon Jesus Christ Nevertheless this crime is so common among Christians that those who will not break their word with an Enemy take no care to be true to the Son of God basely desert his party lodge the devil in the same Throne where they had seated their Soveraign and take an Adulterer into the bed from whence they have driven their lawful Husband If the remembrance of his favours cannot produce love in our souls the terrour of punishments must beget Fear For if he be our Beloved in the Eucharist he is also our Judge and having fruitlesly exhibited testimonies of his Goodness Qui enim manducat bibit indigne judicium fibi manducat hibit non dijudicans corpus Domini 1 Cor. 11. will sensibly inflict marks of his indignation The great Apostle of the Gentiles tells us that he that receiveth unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself that the Devil being the Minister of the Divine Justice takes visible possession of the soul of that Delinquent that he erects an Altar in his heart and of his slave making his victime engageth him in despair having engaged him in Sacriledge Et post buccellū introivit in cum Satanas Joan. 13. Thus dealt he with Judas when he had communicated unworthily The Evangelist observes that he entred into his soul urged him to execute his abominable design for a light interest obliterated out of his mind the remembrance of all the favours he had received from his Master and tumbling him from one precipice to another from Covetousnesse tempted him to Treachery from Treason to Sacriledge Diabolus intravit in cor ut traderet eum Judas quomodo intravit in cor nisi immittendo iniquas persuasiones cogitatienibus iniquorum Aug. de Consen Evang from Sacriledge to Parricide and from Parricide to Desperation For when the wicked spirit that possessed him had counselled him to betray the Son of God he counselled him to hang himself and setting him against himself made him make use of his own hands to inflict a just and cruel death upon himself Finally there is no mystery wherein the Son of God manifests more love or more severity where he obligeth more dearly or punisheth more strictly or pardons more rarely and because the crimes committed here are the greatest it seems the vengeance inflicted upon them is most memorable The first of all sinners is a great Saint in Heaven The man that was our Father and our Parricide both together De illo quidem primo homine patre generis humani quod eum in inferno solverit Christus Ecclesia fere tot a consentit quod eam non inaniter credidisse credendum est Aug. Epist 99. ad Enod The Criminal who is accessory to all the transgressions of the world The Father that engageth all his posterity in his offences and his punishment The Rebel who makes an Insurrection of all his Descendants against their lawful Soveraign That unfortunate Chief who lives yet after his death sins still in his members and by a dreadful prodigy being happy in his person is miserable and guilty in his posterity That old man who is new born in every sinner and in one word That Adam who committed a fault whole nature bewails to this day found his pard on in his repentance and whiles he sees Hel pepled with his off-spring enjoys glory with the Angels in Heaven That great King whom God raised to the Throne against all humane probability That Stripling who without arms gave a Gyant battle That Shepheard whose Crook was turned into a Scepter who reckoned his victories by his combats and boasted that the Lord of Hosts had trained him up in the Discipline of War This Prince who forgetting all these favours joyned Murder to Adultery and made an Innocent dye to cloak the dishonour of a debauched woman This glorious Criminal who saw all the Vials of Heaven poured down upon his Head his Kingdome divided his subjects revolted and his own children in the head of an Army against him This famous Delinquent reigns in glory with the Son of God his tears have washed away his iniquities and his grief more powerful then his offence opened him the gate of Heaven That Apostle who having received so many testimonies of affection from his Master forsook him so shamefully in the Garden of Gethsemane denyed him so openly in the house of Caiaphas is as great in Heaven as he was upon Earth The Church to this day reverenceth his Injunctions the Popes boast themselves his Successours and all the faithful glory in being his children That young man full of zeal and and fury who intended to strangle Christianity in the very Cradle who was the boutefew of the first persecution against the Disciples of Jesus who stoned Saint Stephen by their hands whose cloaths he kept De caelo vocavi una voce percussi alia erexi elegi tertia implevi misi quarta liberavi coronavi Aug. hath found his salvation in his sin He was converted when he went about to plunge himself in the bloud of the first believers he received Grace when he was upon the very point of encreasing the number of Parricides in one moment he became a Preacher of the Gospel an Apostle of the Son of God and the Master of the Gentiles But the first that ever profaned the Body of Jesus Christ and committed a Sacriledge in approaching the Altar
in that of Isaac it was obliged to separate the Priest from the Victime and to arm the hands of the Father to immolate his only Son In the mean time Jesus Christ unites them in his person and in this adorable Sacrifice which he offers to his Father whether on the Cross or on the Altar he is both the Priest that consecrateth and the Victime that is immolated Inasmuch as Jesus Christ saith Saint Augustine is our God and our Temple he is also our Sacrifice and our Priest He is the Priest that reconciles us he is the Sacrifice whereby we are reconciled and the same Doctor admiring the novelties of the sacrifice of the Cross expresseth his wonder by these words The Altar of the Sacrifice is new because the Immolation is new and admirable For he that is the Sacrifice is the Priest the Sacrifice according to the Flesh the Priest according to the Spirit and both according to his Humanity He that offereth and he that is offered is one and the same person and these qualities which have so little analogy are found united in the sacrifice of the Cross Inasmuch as the Christian is the Image of Jesus Christ and this glorious title obligeth him to transcribe his original he ought to sacrifice himself as he did and to be both the Priest and the Oblation together Indeed if we descend into the Mysteries of our Religion and consider with the eye of Faith what we are not able to discover with the light of reason we shall find that we are immolated upon the Altar with the Son of God and that after his example we are both the sacrificers and the sacrifice For Jesus Christ is not offered all alone in our Temples he is immolated by the hands of the Priests and at the same time that he offers his natural body to his Father he offers also his mystical body so that offering himself to his Father by his Church and offering his Church together with himself he teacheth all the Faithful to joyn the quality of Priests with that of Victimes This is it that Saint Augustine informs us of in his Book De Civitate Dei Per hoc sacerdos est ipse offerens ipse oblatio cujus rei Sacramentum quotidianū esse voluit Ecclesiae sacrificiū quae cum ipsius capitis corpus sit seipsam per ipsū discit offerre Aug. lib. 10. de Civit. ca. 6. where searching into our mysteries he finds that the Church offers her self with her Beloved upon our Altars and that in the same sacrifice she is both Priestess and Oblation His words are too elegant to be omitted neither must it be a less Doctor then he that must appear that Protector of so important a Verity 'T is particularly saith he in unity that the sacrifice of Christians consists where being many in number we make up but one body with Jesus Christ this is it that the Church daily does in this Sacrament which is so well known to the Faithfull wherein is demonstrated that in the Oblation she offers she her self is offered that after the example of her Beloved she may be in the same sacrifice Priestess and Victime From this passage may easily be inferred that the Faithful are offered with Christ upon the Altar that the Host that contains him is large enough to contain all his members and that his mysticall body being immolated with his natural body he obligeth all Christians to associate as he doth the quality of Victime with that of a Priest But if leaving the Altar we consider the Faithful in the course of their life we shall see there is none but ought to sacrifice himself and who either in his body or in his soul may not find Victimes to offer to God There is no more need of providing Buls or Goats with the Jews to lay upon our Altars The time of the Mosaical Law is past truths have succeeded figures and if we rightly understand the secret of our mysteries Noli extrinsecus thura comparare sed dic In me sunt Deus vota tua noli extrinsecus pecus quod mactes inquirere habes in te quod occidas Aug. in Psal 51. it becomes us to offer those things these Animals represent We have whereof to sacrifice within our selves there is not any passion in our soul nor part in our body whereof we may not make an innocent Victime Indeed Christian Religion converting the sinner into a sacrifice obligeth him to immolate to God all that he is He is deficient in the lawfullest of his duties if his whole life be not a sacrifice and being compounded of soul and body he ought to sacrifice both that he may have the honour to be a perfect Holocaust The vertues are auxiliaries which facilitate these means and it seems these glorious habits are given us for no other end then to teach us to sacrifice to God all the faculties of our soul Inasmuch as the will is the noblest and this Soveraign being once perfectly gained over to God gives him an absolute dominion over all the rest there are some vertues which have no other employment but to be made victimes Sorrow which discovers to man the excess of his crime labours to convert him it bruiseth his heart by the violence of a holy contrition and if it cannot draw bloud from this sacrifice it draws tears which are more acceptable to God then the bloud of beasts This made David say that the spirit broken and afflicted was a true sacrifice and that he who sometimes refuseth Goats and Lambs never despiseth a heart that Repentance and Humility offers up unto him Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus Obedience comes in to the succour of grief this beats down the pride of the will masters that imperious faculty and changing her triumph into a sacrifice obligeth her to die to her own inclinations that she may live to those of the Grace of Jesus Christ But love happily finisheth this design he burns the victime with his flames to render it an Holocaust and finding the means to put to death an immortall power teacheth us that a pure spirit may offer sacrifices to God For there is no lover but knows that love imitates death that he commits innocent murders and by stratagems which himself is only privy to makes sin die in us that Grace may live If the will become a Victim by means of Charity the understanding is offered up to God by the intervening of faith This vertue subjects it to her Empire perswades truths she explicates not she obligeth a man to suspend his judgement to renounce his reason and to give his senses the lye she engageth him to offer as many sacrifices as she propounds mysteries and by a power which would seem tyrannical were it not legitimate forbids him the use of reasoning in matters of religion The memory after the example of the understanding is immolated to God by remembrance and forgetfulness These two
Son of God he ought to breath only after his honour to act for his service to speak for his glory and as a Criminal whom the Prince hath pardoned remains a living monument of his clemency so a Christian whom Jesus Christ hath redeemed is an inanimated picture of his mercy nor ought to have any other design then by the lustre of his actions to manifest the goodnesse of his Divine Redeemer The Second DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Priest and a Sacrifice LOve hath made the Son of God so liberal that he possesseth no qualities which he communicates not to the Christians If he be God by his Essence we are by his Grace if he be the Son of God by Nature we are by Adoption if he produce the holy Spirit from all Eternity we produce him in Time if he confer Grace in the state of his Father we confer it in his if he be Priest and Victim in his Sacrifice we partake these two qualities with him and the Church bears no Christians in her womb who may not boast that in some sort they are both Priests and Victims Gens sancta regale sacerdodotium 1. Pet. 2. The Scripture gives them this honourable title by the mouth of S. Peter the Saints glory in the Apocalypse that the Grace of Baptism hath made them Priests and Kings Fecisti nos regnum sacerdotes Deo Patri so that we cannot question this title as not belonging to the Christian unlesse we question the Authority of the Scripture nor can we doubt that the Son of God hath honoured them with this Character but we must withall doubt of his love or of his power Indeed the Fathers of the Church have professed that the Christians were Priests that their Baptism was their Priesthood Sacerdotium Laico um Baptisma Hieron and that in this Sacrament which separates them from the world they were consecrated to Jesus Christ Therefore doth the great Saint Hierome writing against the Luciferians honour the Laity with this title and cals their Baptism their Priesthood Saint Augustine is of the same mind and though he was not ignorant of the difference between the Laity and the Clergy he forbears not to style all Christian Priests because their Name denotes their Unction and their Grace makes them the members of the High Priest Jesus Christ And certainly he that shall consider the employments of Priests will find that they are common to the Laity and though they have neither their character nor their power they are with them admitted into the dispensation of the Sacraments They may administer Baptism in case of necessity communicate the Grace they have received and bring forth children to Jesus Christ Though they are not raised to that pitch of dignity which makes the Priests Judges in the Tribunal of Repentance and have not any Authority from the Son of God to remit sins neverthelesse it hath sometimes fallen out that the Faithful being not able to meet with a Priest have confessed themselves to Laicks and the Laicks have endeavoured to obtain Grace for them by means of Prayer which in some sort supplies the vertue of Absolution Saint Thomas authoriseth this custome and exhorts Soldiers that enter into the field Mariners that are surprised with a storm not to neglect this remedy and to fly to this kind of confession when they want the ordinary one He confirms the use thereof by his reasons and tels us that the sorrow and the humility Christians epxresse in this occasion is not unprofitable to draw down upon them the Divine mercie The Laity in some sense may be said to sacrifice daily in our Churches If they pronounce not the Sacramental words with the Priests they joyn themselves with their intentions and accompanying them with their vows have a share in the producing of Jesus Christ on our Altars For the Priests representing the whole Church in this Sacrament they are the Syndics or Proctors of the Faithful acting in their name they require their assistance and conjure them to joyn with them in an action which equally concerns them all All the words of the Masse confirm this truth The confession which is common to Priest and people testifies that the sacrifice is common The oblation of the Host wherein the Priest requires the attention and consent of the people is an evident proof of the part they bear in it the very Canon wherein the Priest treats in secret with God where he interposeth the credit of the Saints that reign in Heaven authoriseth this belief For he speaks in the name of the Faithful and even then when he offers this sacrifice in their behalf testifies that he offers it with them and that he is at the same time the Minister of Jesus Christ and of his Church Finally Christians are Priests as we have said because they are ordained daily to offer up sacrifices Perum Sacrificium est omne opus quod agitur ut sancta societate haereamus Deo Aug. and according to the language of Saint Augustine all vertuous actions are so many holy oblations which they present to the Eternal Father He that sings with the Priest offers the sacrifice of praise he that gives Alms to the poor makes a sacrifice of his goods he that is sorrowful for his sins offers a sacrifice of his heart and he that endeavours to wash them away by his tears offers a sacrifice of his eyes But not to reckon up all the actions of the Faithful it is enough to say with the same Saint Augustine that their whole life is a sacrifice and that they begin to be Priests assoon as they begin to be Victims These two qualities were inseparable in the person of Jesus Christ he bare them from the very first moment of his Incarnation and assoon as ever he held the language of a Priest A Domino Deo missus Christus sacerdos noster assumpsit à nobis quod offerret Domino ipsas primitias carnis ex utero virginis Aug. he had the dispositions of a Victim He began his sacrifice with his life he offered himself to his Father in the chast womb of his Mother and having received that Divine Unction which constituted him High Priest he protested that he would be a publick Victim He finished upon the Crosse what he had projected before his Birth and joyning these two qualities in his Death taught us that we should not separte them during our life Therefore are all Christians obliged to be Victims and after the example of Jesus Christ they ought to find in their person the subject of their sacrifice They have no remainders of Adam which may not happily be subservient to this design Whatever they hold of this wretched Father ought to be consumed by the flames of Justice or those of Charity Purgatory will burn that which the fire hath not and Heaven finishing what these two had begun wâ—â— reduce the Victim to an estate where nothing will appear in
the parts of his body He imitates those that are transported with anger and as they find no vengeance that can satisfie them nor any punishments that equal their injuries no more can he any sufferings that content him nor any chastisements that equall his offences From anger he passeth to hatred and fully to satisfie the Justice of God handles himself as a Criminal or as an Enemy he exerciseth acts of Hostility against his body and finding nothing more ignominious nor more cruell then the Cross condemns himself unto it and willingly embraceth it For Saint Augustin teacheth us that the true Penitent ought to be crucified while he lives that the Counsels and Precepts of Christ are the nails that must pierce his heart that every inclination is a foot or a hand that he is bound to fasten to the Cross of Jesus Christ and that it is a crime to take out the nails as long as we live upon the Earth The Great Saint Leo is of this mind and though he were of so mild a spirit he is so severe in this point that he cannot judge us worthy to be the Members of the Son of God if our flesh be not crucified with his He will not have us the same after Repentance that we were before but out of a severity which he believes founded upon the Sacrament of our Reconciliation he will have us put off the old man and put on the new and renouncing all pleasure make our body become the Image of Christ crucified When he is arrived to this degree of severity he hath no more to do but persevere that he may become worthy of the glorious name of Penitent For the sorrow is not true unless it be constant the Repentance is not sincere unless it be faithful and he is rather a Deceiver then a Penitent who having testified some desire of amendment of life commits with pleasure the offence he had bewailed with grief Many saith Saint Augustin protest that they are sinners and continue still to sin This acknowledgment is indeed a Consession but no Correction Irrisor est non Poenitens qut aduc agit quod poeniteat non minuit peccata sua sed multiplicat Aug. Ser. 1. de Poen they accuse themselves but they labour not after a cure and as another Father of the Church adds they appease not the Divine Justice by their prayers but provoke him by their insolence For a man therefore to be truly Penitent he must lament his sin in lamenting it he must punish it in punishing it he must hate it and that this severity may not be reproached as counterfeit it must last as long as our life and our forsaking sin with a perseverance in good must be the certain proof of the Truth of our Repentance The Tenth DISCOURSE That the most glorious Quality of a Christian is that of a Christian IT is hard to determine Non minus se debere Aristoteli quam Philippo dicebat Alexander Plut. Whether we have more obligations to our Tutors or to our Fathers for if the one fashions our Body the other fashions our Minde if the one give us Life the other gives us Reason and if we receive from the one our Riches from the other we receive our Vertues Therefore in all Antiquity Disciples bore the name of their Masters as well as of their Fathers nor were they less jealous of the Learning of those that had instructed them then of the glory of these that had begotten them This difference hath no place among Christians Because he that gives them Life gives them Grace and the same Jesus Christ that hath conceived them in his Wounds hath taught them in his School He is the Father and the Master of the Faithful and as these two Qualities oblige us to bear his Name they oblige us also to relinquish our own He is jealous of this honour and whatever part his Ministers take in his advantages he hath never been willing to let them share in this The Apostles never transferred their name to their disciples these faithful servants wrought all their gain for their Master knowing very well that all their power was derived from him they laboured onely for his glory and when they had brought forth children they named them by the name of Jesus Christ and not their own They imitated saith S. Augustine the Israelites who marrying the widow of their brother made their children bear the name of the dead Jesus Christ died upon the Cross his Ministers are his Brethren and to accomplish his designe they beget children for him by preaching but they owe him so much respect that they baptize them in his Name and call them Christians Inasmuch as this advantage is great it carries great obligations along with it and all the Faithful are bound to imitate the Son of God This honourable Title exacts this duty from them 'T is in vain saith S. Augustine Ex Sacramento Christi descendit hoc nomen quod ille frustra sortitur qui Christum minime imitatur Aug. to denominate themselves from Jesus Christ if they strive not to conform their life to his It is lawful for Infidels that know not the true God to seek for Patterns among men because they can finde none among the gods and they may regulate their actions according to the example of the Socrates's or Cato's But 't is a crime for a Christian to transcribe any other copie then that of Jesus Christ He that hath formed them ought to guide them and as his Death is their Glory his Life must be their Morality I can not endure that the greatest part of Believers should seek for vertue among Heathens and dazled with a false sparkling that decejves them quit the Humanity of the Son of God to imitate the Vanity of Pagans For besides that their vertue hath its imperfections that Self-love is the Principle Pride the Soul and Glory the End thereof she is accompanied with so many Vices that labouring to render them Vertuous she makes them Criminals Alexander was valiant but his Anger made him dye his hands in the blood of his Favourites Pompey was wise but ambitious Caesar was merciful but lascivious Cato was generous but he drank many times somewhat too liberally and not being able to finde consolation in Philosophy sought it in good company But neither are the Saints themselves to be our Models any further then they are conformable to Jesus Christ When S. Paul invites us to follow him 't is after he hath assured us that he imitated our Exemplar and endeavoured to exhibite himself a Copie of that divine Original Imitatores mei estote sicut ego Christi So that it is the Son of God always whom we look upon they are his actions that regulate ours and his Person that serves us for a Pattern For this reason he chose a life which may minister instruction to all men and carried himself so that Rich and Poor Learned and
Continence to our relief to defend us from pleasures that tickle us sometimes we demand help of Fortitude to combat griefs that assault us sometimes we throw our selves into the arms of Justice to deliver us from enemies that oppress us But in Heaven all these Vertues are idle onely Charity is active and yet rests in acting her action is to love what she sees her rest to possess what she loves and her felicity to know that she shall never lose what she enjoys If you cannot suffer saith S. Augustine that the Vertues to which we owe Heaven be banished thence imagine them there more for your ornament then defence never conceive that they fight but perswade your selves that they triumph and having vanquished all their enemies enjoy a Peace which shall endure for all Eternity The Ninth DISCOURSE That the Christians Soul and Body shall finde their Perfection in Beatitude MAn is such a hidden Creature that he cannot well be known without Faith He is mistaken as often as he intends to pass judgement upon himself and the errours that have appeared in his own definition have given us occasion to conclude that he was ignorant of his own essence when he consulted his Sense he believed he was nothing but a Body and if there were a spirit that informed him it was perishable and mortal when he consulted his Pride he conceited himself a pure Spirit which either for his penalty or for his trial was included in a Body as in a prison from which he should be delivered by death These two errours produced two grand disorders in the world The first engaged Man in the love of his Body and the oblivion of his Soul he made no account but of sensual Pleasures and knowing no life but the present never troubled himself about the future He was of opinion that Death was the end of his Being and that nothing remaining of him after his dissolution he need fear neither any Punishment nor expect any Recompence The second errour made him so mightily undervalue his Body that he repined at it as a Slave and handled it as a Rebel he had recourse many times to Death that being delivered from this enemy he might mix with pure Intelligences and raign with Gods or Devils Faith which corrects our errours obligeth us to believe that Man is neither an Angel nor a Beast that he is compounded of a Body and a Soul and if he have the First common with Beasts he hath the Second common with Angels The same Faith perswades him that Death deprives him of his body but for a time onely that at the General Resurrection it shall be re-united to the soul to partake of its good or bad fortune Therefore treating here of the felicity of Christians I am necessarily to speak of the two parts that compose them and of the different happiness the Divine Justice prepares for them respectively Inasmuch as the soul is the noblest she is also most happily provided for and her Beatitude infinitely surpasseth that of the body Tunc nec falli nec peccare homines possunt veritate illuminati in bono confirmati Aug. When she quits her prison and is purified of all her imperfections by the grace of Jesus Christ she enters into Glory and receives all the advantages which are due to her dignity and condition Ignorance which is a brand of sin is quite defaced by the brightness that enlightens her her weakness is fortified by a supply which being much more powerful then that of Grace raiseth her to a condition wherein she cannot desert the good nor embrace the evil and where as Saint Augustine saith she is in a happy impotency to wander from her duty and estrange her self from the Supream good Assurance succeeds in the place of fear rest in stead of conflicts triumphs after victories she is no longer constrained to resist the motions of the flesh because this rebell is become obedient and losing in the Resurrection whatever he drew from Adam at his Birth hath now none but just and holy inclinations The Spirit is no longer busied to maintain a war against sin because this Monster cannot enter Heaven he groans not now under the revolt of the passions and as all the vertues are peaceable they finde neither enemies to subdue nor rebels to tame Her knowledge is no longer accompanied with doubts and darkness she learnes without labour is not afraid to forget and drawing light and wisdom from the very Fountain knows all things in their Principles In this happy condition there remains nothing for the Christian to wish for his soul is penetrated by the Divine Essence his understanding clarified with the light of glory his will inflamed with the love of God and all his powers and faculties finding their particular perfection in one object he confesseth that the promises of God exceed his hopes Though his body have been polluted by his birth and corrupted by death it findes life in the Resurrection and Purity in Glory For assoon as the Trumpet of the Angel shall have declared the will of God every soul shal reassume her own body reuniting her self with it shall give it a part in her happiness The greatness of this wonder hath found no belief in the mindes of Philosophers though they were perswaded of the Immortality of the soul they would not consent to the Resurrection of the body and having seen it made a prey to wilde Beasts or fuel for the flames they judged there was no power in the world could restore it again The spirit of man hath favoured this errour and believing his eyes rather then his light could not finde in his heart to place that part of man in heaven which he saw committed to the grave he was afraid to weary the power of the Almighty if he should oblige him to so many miracles and not comprehending how a body reduc'd to powder or smoak could take its primitive form chose rather to leave it in the Earth then draw it thence with so much violence But had he thought of the Creation he had never doubted of the Resurrection and Reason her self had perswaded him that seeing God was able to finde the body in Non-Entity where it was not he might very well finde it in the waters or in the slames where there was yet some remainder thereof If Nothing were not rebellious to him Nature cerrainly will not be disobedient and if he could make that which was not he may as easily repair what now is not Nothing perisheth in respect of the Creator the dead are not less his subjects then those that never were born and if he could make Non-Entity hear him he may well make death obey him The miracle of Resurrection is perhaps attended with more pomp then that of the Creation but there is less difficulty in it and he that could vanquish the distance between Entity and Non-Entity will have no great matter to do to master the opposition
another and the remedy which cures a Disease cannot give consolation to a Discontent But the Blessed have this advantage that they finde in God whatever is necessary for them having all Perfections he fully contents their desires and one sole Good infused into their souls satisfies all their wants He that enlightens them warms them he that feeds them clothes them he that lodges them protects them he that imparts his perfections in several portions to the Saints here belowe communicates them all together to the Blessed and to express my self in the words of Saint Paul and S. Augustine his disciple God is All to All in Glory nor can we form any wishes whereof we finde not the accomplishment in his possession The Third Miracle is that the desire is not restless in heaven Those that are well acquainted with our Passions confess there is none more cruel then Desire For though it seem to supply us in our need we may say that the Remedy is more troublesome then the Disease and that it were better to retrench the most part of worldly things then to be troubled with longing for them This Passion puts us not upon the search of Good but by means of Grief 't is a spur which wounds us to make us go a needle that goads us to make us run a transportation of the soul which renders us miserable to render us happie Thence it comes to pass that Divines agreeing with Philosophers profess that Desires are the chiefest torment of the Damned that these delinquents are therefore wretched because their desires are hopeless Est in eis desiderium nec poenam generat quia desiderium omne transit in gaudium dum praesto est quicquid optatur qui quid deside ratur abunâ—at Aug. aut Greg. Mag. and this viper which they conceive in their bowels gnaws and devours them eternally But by an unconceiveable wonder the Blessed desire and are not at all disquieted they enjoy what they long for see what they hope and as the Goodness of God occasions their wishes his Presence begets their felicity The Good they desire is not absent the Good they possess is not wearisome and mixing Desire with Fruition they are everlastingly happie They long saith S. Augustine and their longing causeth no doleance because as soon as formed 't is turned into joy and the presence of the God they covet banisheth pain and causeth content This Miracle produceth a Fourth which makes the Blessed finde a possession which never disgusts them Duo sunt tortores cruci atum alternantes dolor timor si bene es times si male es doles Aug. Men cannot avoid being upon Earth and as Grief and Fear are two Passions which succeed to give them no respite Fruition and Desire are two states which alternately torment them Desire is always attended with Restlesness every man that makes Vows and puts up Requests declares publikely his want and misery and though raised to never so high a pitch of Fortune tells all the world that he suffers because he desires Fruition which seems the period and acquiescence of Desires and which by a necessary consequence ought to banish Grief out of the soul begets a sapless cloying of the appetite and condemns him to a punishment whereof he hath no right to complain because himself seems to have courted it In the mean time this misfortune is so common that there is no body but experienceth it and the goods of the Earth are so mean and beggerly that we cannot have them but we must despise them Their absence troubles us and their presence cloys us we make some account of them at a distance but when we approach them and taste the fruition of them we discover their imperfections are ashamed or disrelish them so that in whatever condition Fortune place us we cannot chuse but be miserable But the happiness which the Blessed enjoy is so great that as their Desires occasion not their Impatience neither doth their felicity nauseate into a distaste They daily discover new beauties in this infinite object they finde more sweetnesses then were promised them and confess that their happiness exceeds their hopes The Faithful have less love because less light present things distract them their senses which are at agreement with what they see seduce them and because they can form no noble Ideas of the Supream Good the desires they have towards it are faint and languishing But inasmuch as the Blessed know all the advantages it is attended with their love encreaseth with their light their pleasure is augmented by fruition and far distant from conceiving any disrelish their desire continues in the height of possession and they wish without pain what they possesse with assurance But the last miracle of glory and which is no whit inferiour to the rest is that the difference of conditions causeth no jealousie The variety of the world is one of its rarest ornaments Tota Naturae pulchritudo aut certe praecipuae in sua varietate sita est nec abest à varietate utilitas Mars Fisc The slowers which checker a walk imbellish it The Stars which make a hundred severall Figures in the Firmament set a lustre upon its beauty neither doth any thing make a Countrey more pleasant then the diversity of the parts that compose it Our eyes are ravished to behold rivulets creeping along the Meadows Fields stretching themselves out of sight Valleys which sink as low as the Center of the Earth and Mountains which strike Heaven with their tops The Riches and Beauty of a State depends upon its diversity if all Subjects were of the same condition there would be neither diversion for strangers nor accommodation for the Naturals The Ornament and Advantage of the Body Politick appears in this agreeable mixture of Poor and Rich Artists and Husbandmen Soldiers and Merchants Magistrates and Priests But it falls out by an inevitable misfortune that this difference of conditions which begets its beauty breeeds jealousie among the subjects For as their goods are not common because their conditions are different one is jealous of what the other possesseth The Grandees are proud and despise their inferiours the mean men are envious and murmure at the Optimacy Cum erit Deus omnia in omnibus qui minus habebunt non abhorrebunt ubi enim nulla est invidentia concors est differentia Aug. Every condition carries its own torment along with it Greatness is tortured with Pride and Misery afflicted with Envy But in Heaven the difference of conditions produceth their beauty and gives no occasion of jealousie All the Saints hold different stations their merit is the measure of their glory their crowns are proportionable to their labours and there is more variety in the Blessed then among the Stars In the mean time Peace bears rule in the diversity of their conditions Charity which unites them renders their contentment common though the Justice that rewards them makes their condition different Every one is glad of anothers good fortune and without interessing any one they finde that the felicity of particulars contributes to that of the Publick But it were to injure their dignity Non Nobis sufficit quia Christianum nomen accepimus si opera Christi non fecerimus Illi prodest quod Christianus dicitur qui castitatem diligit ebrietatem fugit superbiam odit invidiam respuit Aug. should we strive to express it silence and astonishment are the onely commendations we can give them because the Holy Scripture teacheth us that the Happiness God prepareth for those that love him is unconceivable Let us content our selves to wish what we cannot comprehend and finishing this Work with the Beatitude of Christians let us strive to merit it by the precedent advantages Let us profit by the Birth we received in Baptism follow the motions of the Holy Spirit that inanimates us imitate the examples of that ever to be adored Chief that governs us obey his Grace that masters us make use of those Vertues that assist us Entertain our life by the nourishment and our piety by the Sacrifice of the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ Doe nothing that may dishonour our Qualities and endeavour to make our selves worthy of that Glory which is promised to all true Christians in the other world FINIS