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
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
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
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
hath so many Ages sealed them up in their Tombs and that now they do arise after they were buried in Infidelity then they shall be freed from all misfortunes that attend their mortal condition now they are delivered from all clouds of Ignorance that darken their spirituall existency then they shall rise to Immortality and Glory now they are regenerated to Grace and Salvation Though these effects of Baptism are sufficiently admirable by their own proper greatnesse Nonne mirandū et lavacro dilui mortem atquin eo magis credendum si quia mirandum est ideo non creditur atquin eo magis credendum est qualia enim decet esse opera divina nisi omnē admirationem Tert. de Bapt. Sine pompa sine apparatu sine sumptu in aquae demissus inter pauca verba tinctus inde exiliit innocentior Idem ibid. yet must we acknowledg that the easinesse that produceth them extreamly heightens their Excellency For to revive a childe there needs only a little water animated with the Word of God all these changes are wrought in his soul when the Priest speaks and sprinkles his body he is miraculously raised when the Ceremonies of the Church are ended and this way that prepares him to eternall life costs the Ministers of Jesus Christ nothing but the Pronunciation of these words I baptise thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The Heathen who heretofore inform'd themselves of our Mysteries were scandaliz'd at a miracle so mean and simple in its Administration so glorious in its Promises and so powerfull in its Effects They could not comprehend saith Tertullian that washing the body with a little water the soul should be cleansed from its sins that without any * Miratur incredulitas non credit miratur enim simplicia quasi vana magnifica quasi impossbilia Ter. pomp or expense a few words mingled with the commonest of the Elements should assure us of the Conquest of heaven But this Great Doctor answers their doubts with such solid Reasons that he at once blazons the honor of our Religion and the Majesty of our God For he makes them see * Prob misera incredulitas quae denegas Deo proprietas suas simplicitatem et potestatē Ter. de Baptis he was pleased to shew his simplicity in the matter of our Sacraments and his State in their effects that not to know God was no more then to deny him these two perfections which seem to constitute his Nature and that it was to want respect to make simple things passe for vain and glorious things for impossible because it is easie for him who drew the world out of nothing to draw our salvation out of an Element quickned by his Word and by his Spirit Baptism then being so fruitfull of Miracles and this Sacrament being the Throne of the power of the Almighty we need not wonder that the Christian finds his birth there that in it he is renewed by Grace that he is raised again by the vertue of Jesus Christ and that there he commenceth a supernatural life whose Progresse is as strange as the Beginning is wonderfull The Third DISCOURSE That the chiefest Mysteries of Jesus Christ are applyed to the Christian in his Birth IT is not without reason that St. Paul informs Christians newly baptized * Quicunque in Christo baptizati estis Christum induistis Gal. 3. that they have put on Jesus Christ since in their second Nativity they are united to his Person replenished with his Grace and quickned with his Spirit For as a * Induistis id est conformes ei facti estis quod est vobis honor contra aestus protectio Glossa ordinar in hunc locum Garment is the ornament and shelter of a man it covers his shame and protects him from the injury of the weather so may we say of Jesus Christ he is the glory and guard of a Christian whom having delivered from the confusion that accompanies sin he defends against the assaults of temptation and bestows upon him vigour and beauty thereby to render him a compleat work But as all graces in Christianity are mixt with pain the Christian according to the doctrine of the same Apostle if he intend to be perfect must die with Christ death must bring him to the resurrection and to life Whosoever saith he are baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death All that we are of Christians we have by being baptized in his death Sacri Baptismatis in cruce Christi grande mysterium commendavit Apostolus eo modo ut intelligamus nihil aliud esse in Christo baptismum nisi mortis Christi similitudinem ut quemadmodum in illo vera mors facta est sic in vobis vera remissio peccatorum quemadmodum in illo vera resurrectio ita in vobis vera justificatio Aug. in Beda we are buried with him in Baptism we drowned our sins in the waters of this Sacrament and in this laver happily lose whatever we received from Adam in our first birth This death is fruitful producing in us the life of grace this burial prepares us for the Resurrection neither doth Jesus Christ make us partake of his Cross but thereby to make us partake of his Glory The Tomb is a step to our Birth like the Phoenix we finde life in our ashes and by a wonderful prodigie the Sepulchre of the Sinner becomes the Cradle of the Believer For the Christian receives a Being in Baptism according as he expires there and contrary to all the Laws of Nature Death is the Midwife of Life All the Fathers speak the same dialect with S. Paul Baptismus Christi nobis est sepultura in quo peccatis morimur criminibus sepelimur veteris hominis conscientia in alterā nativitatem rediviva infantia reparamur Baptismus inquā Salvatoris vobis sepultura quia ibi perdidimus quod antè viximus ibi dennò accipimus ut vivamus magna igitur sepulturae hujus est gratia in qua nobis utilis mors infertur vtilior vita condonatur magna inquā sepulturae hujus gratia quae purificat peccatorē vivificat morientē Aug. Serm. 129. de Temp. never mentioning Baptism but as a Sacrament where the life and death of Jesus Christ are equally applied unto us that we may live to grace and die to sin The Baptism of Jesus Christ saith S. Augustine is a burial wherein we bequeath sin and losing the conscience of the old man we enter upon a second Infancy by a new Nativity In a word the Baptism of our Saviour is a Tomb wherein we are buried and a Cradle wherein we are born again 't is a pleasant dormitory where receiving a death beneficial we receive withal a life far more glorious and where leaving off to be Sinners we begin to be Innocents In this it is that I admire the Providence of the Son
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
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
merâ—es redditur Aug. Psal 103. Ser. 3 The doctrine of S. Augustine doth not destroy it self though he teach us that Grace is not due to the Creature he never told us that it was not due to Jesus Christ and where he said that it was justly refus'd Christians he alwaies presupposed that they had committed some Crimes which rendred them unworthy There is some secret in Grace which yet we understand not whereby it comes to passe that without destroying the vertue of its efficacy we may resist its operation its charms perhaps are not so strong that they are alwaies inevitable its powers rob us not of our liberty and though it be very often victorious yet it is sometimes worsted We have a miserable power remaining in us to resist its motions and did it infallibly without any intermission produce its effect the Saints would not complain of their Infidelity Whatever good we doe bears witness of the great Empire it hath over our wills since it changeth them without compelling them and a thousand times more powerfull then eloquence it makes the sinner act what he never had a mind to before it knowes how to conquer our rebellion and its charmes are so sweetly prevalent that they master the most obstinate and subject the most rebellious But the evill we doe is an argument that our liberty may resist it that at all times it acts not with the like force and if at its birth it work more vigorously in its progress it growes more languishing and remisse In this point consists all the difficulty this is the secret God hath not been willing to discover to us 't is the cause of our differences and I am of opinion this will never be understood till Jesus Christ raise up some new light in his Church I reverence Saint Augustine when he defends the party of grace when he sets it above mans freewill when he stiles it victorious and to expresse its efficacy affirmes that it infallibly produceth its effect I am ravished when I read that great Doctor how he makes man stoop to God the will to grace salvation to mercy But withall I respect the Councel of Trent teaching us that our liberty may resist grace that when it receives its impressions it may reject them and that in the very motion whereby 't is carried it may remain obstinate and unmoveable what ever is said to reconcile these two opinions doth not at all satisfie me and whatsoever answer is returnd I alwaies meet with difficulties great enough to perswade me that earth is not the mansion of light I honour S. Augustine and the Holy Sea I subscribe to the Anathema's the Church hath thundered out against Pelagians Calvinists and as I believe that Sin hath not destroyed the Liberty of Man neither do I believe that Free-will ruines the power of Grace But to return where I left I hold for certain that God is never wanting to the Covenant he made with the Christian in Baptism that he never forsakes him till he be forsaken by him and that there is always some secret infidelity on mans part that renders him unworthy of the assistance God would afford him his grace is many times offered to the Christian though it be not due to him and as he is constantly obliged to combat sin I conceive he hath continually some helps which he scarce ever fails of If God make us sensible of our weakness 't is that he may oblige us to have recourse to his goodness if he suffer us to fall 't is to punish us and the withdrawing of his grace supposeth always some notable infidelity When he pardons in Baptism 't is with as much Sincerity as Mercy he doth not quicken a sin that he hath made to die he goes not to Adam to seek for motives to destroy a man that begins to revive in Jesus Christ and I verily believe he never refuses grace to a Christian for an offence he hath so solemnly pardoned But we must certainly confess that we observe not our promises with the same faithfulness and that we are many times wanting to those oaths and protestations we have made in Baptism For the Christian publikely vows that he doth renounce the devil That he dies to himself to live to Jesus Christ That he will be crucified with him and as he takes his party he is resolved to fight his enemies Let us examine these promises in particular and see what they exact from us Baptism in those of age begins by Instruction in children by Exorcism it presupposeth that they are possest with Devils whom if they torment not as a Tyrant they command as a Soveraign If this Maxime be not true the Ceremonies of Baptism must pass for illusions and the Church to amaze us with vain fears increaseth the misery of our thraldom to augment the benefit of our deliverance when she sets us free from this shameful captivity she obligeth us to have no more commerce with the Evil spirit and knowing that the World is his State that it lives under his Laws follows his Maximes obeys his Directions she gives us in charge to hate it and to the end we may submit to her injunctions we promise by the mouth of our Godfathers to renounce the World as well as the Devil But because the grace that defaceth Sin destroys not Concupiscence but this monster still lives in our flesh stirs up disorders there makes parties and raiseth seditions we engage moreover to weaken his Empire to combat his designes to check his motions Thus the Christians in their Baptism are obliged to a War nay to Death they must die if they intend to live they must fight if they mean to overcome and knowing that the New man is a souldier they must consider Life as a Combat the Earth as the Pitched Field and the Devil the World and the Flesh as irreconcileable Enemies In the rere of these marcheth a terrible Troop of sins which Christians are bound to grapple with and subdue For the grace they have received in Baptism differs much from that which Adam received in the state of Innocence His was quiet and gave no alarms it subjected the Soul to God the Body to the Soul and the Senses to Reason its commands were executed without the least dispute it found no resistance in its subjects and as it commanded with Gentleness it was obeyed with chearfulness This of Christians is obliged to joyn Force with Sweetness and as the most part of its subjects are rebels they must be threatned to reduce them to their duty It commands always with the sword in the hand and knowing very well that when a people are up Justice can execute nothing if it be not assisted with force it must be feared that it may be obeyed Hence it is that it calls in severe vertues to its aid which make the Body afflict the Senses and swallow up the Passions But use what endeavour it will it findes by woful
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
labour and is master of that with complacency which another cannot reach to but with much sweat of anxiety Thus the courage of the Martyrs supplies our weakness the knowledge of Doctors our ignorance the purity of virgins is in stead of continence in Marriage and the solitude of Anchorites is a supplement to the employments of those that are conversant in the world Hence 't is evident that he that is in the Body of the Church partakes of all the merits of the Faithful that without admitting himself into Religious Orders he shares in their travels if he be associated to them by charity without wearing their habit he participates of their vertues and that in an ordinary Secular condition he preacheth with the Dominicans sacrificeth with the Priests is in the desart with the solitary and is chaste in the highest degree of continency with the virgins But in this prerogative the Christian must defend himself from two mischiefs which strongly threaten him the first is Pride receiving with humility what he possesseth not but by right of Charity lest his own sufficiency make him lose the benefit of the Churches community The second is Idleness not to neglect the practice of vertues under a pretence of enjoying them in others but going forward with the highest industry in the way of perfection to store the Church with his pious endeavours and to adde new merits to the treasures of this charitable mother The Fourth TREATISE Of the Grace of a Christian The first DISCOURSE That Predestination upon which Grace depends is a hidden Mystery INasmuch as men are the children of Adam they are as curious as they are proud and as the haughtiness of their Father hath made them lose the remembrance of their misery his curiosity hath made them forget their ignorance They aspire to reign although they be slaves they would be masters of knowledge although they are born ignorant and these two unjust desires have made so deep an impression in their souls that all the punishments inflicted upon sin have not been able to suppress them I could pardon this imperfection of man had it any bounds nor would I find fault with an ignorant person desiring to be learned could he content himself with the knowledge of what might be known without danger or sin But the difficulty sets an edge upon his appetite there are no truths he is more eagerly inquisitive of then those God hath pleased to leave in the dark He mounts up to the Heavens to know their motions and influences he seeks his destiny in the Conjunction of the Planets and studies a Book whose Characters have abused all Astrologers and means to finde that in Stars which God hath lock'd up in his own Bosome He descends into the Abysses of the Earth out of Curiosity as much as Avarice he thinks knowledge is retired to the Center of the world and that he must confer with the spirit of lies to be acquainted with truth His Insolence hath passed as far as Religion he would fain penetrate its mysteries nor does God bring any thing to pass in the world the Causes and motives wâ—ereof he endeavours not to discover 'T is a crime in the State to comment upon the intentions of the Ministers thereof Sicut inquirere in vitam Principis ita in arcana ejus nefas est Taci Annal. Their prudence draws a curtain over the wheels they work by and they believe that he that shall sound the secrets of the Prince is not less guilty then he that would know the end of his life In the mean time we commit this crime against the mysteries of Faith we would make Religion a Science and we daily search for evidence and certitude in the region of ignorance and obscurity The desire we have to fathome the depths of Predestination is a certain proof of this Insolence For though there be nothing in the world more bid more in the dark there is not any thing man hath more curiously examined and made the employment of his busie undertakings seeking his fall in the fountain of salvation I should account my self very happy could I cure him of this malady and if describing the mystery hidden in eternity could make him see 't is an impiety to pretend to know more then God hath been willing to reveal Predestination is as certain as it is secret it makes up one part of Providence and if God have any care of his creatures he must needs lead them to their end There are none but the Epicures who fearing to trouble his rest have denyed him the knowledge of humane affairs The best of Philosophers have believed our fortune is in his hands and that having given us our beeing he must also give us our felicity Christian Religion hath confirmed us in this Creed and Faith perswading us that God hath regulated all things from Eternity obligeth us to believe that he hath ordained necessary means to ascertain our salvation Sufficiat eis scire quod non sit in quitas apud Deum cum cuim nulla merita invenisset Apostolus quibus Jacob apud Deum praecederet fratrem dicit Numquid apud DeuÌ„ est iniquitas absit Aug. lib. 4. contra duas Episto Pelag. Shee teacheth us that he beheld all his works before they proceeded out of Nothing that he hath drawn forth what he pleased not all that he was able That he created Men and Angels elected some out of Mercy rejected others out of Justice and that in these two contrary judgements he hath carried himself with so much evenness that no person hath any cause to complain Reason together with Faith instructs us that God loves all his creatures that his being Absolute makes him not unjust and acting according to the knowledge of the Cause he punisheth none that have not deserved it If he be no more liberall in his recompenses then severe in his corrections he fails not to be very observant of Justice if we be not sure that he hath respect to our merits we know at least that he hath to his own favours and that when he crowns our good works he crowns his own benefits and endowments The Scripture that knows very well that men are in love with their salvation and jealous of their liberty represents them often that God is absolute in his State that he is not to give account of his actions that his judgments being equitable in themselves have no need of our approbation nor are therefore less just because not conformable to our weak reasonings This divine Register insinuates to us that God is the master of his creature that he disposeth thereof as he pleaseth and that if Nothing whence he had his Beeing give him right enough to destroy him sin which he is guilty of gives him title enough to punish him But delivering all these reasons in different passages we are not permitted to deduce thence infallible consequences nay we may easily perceive the whole drift is rather to
affection higher in loving God they become Divine But there needs no other proof of this verity but the Mystery of the Incarnation where Love triumphing over God himself made him assume the form of a Man invested him with our nature and our miseries loaded him with our sins and obliged him to appear before his Father as a Penitent or rather as an Anathema This prodigious change makes us look for another For God was not made Man but that Men might be made Gods he was humbled that they might be exalted he took their nature that he might bestow his upon them nor did he suffer his love to render him like Man but to perswade them that the same love may liken them to God The Seventh DISCOURSE Of the Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance of a Christian THough sin hath committed so many outrages against Nature divided her Forces obscured her Lights and weakned her Liberty yet hath he not been able to destroy the workmanship of God There remains to man since his Fall some strength to combat his enemies some light to discover errours and some liberty to defend him against evil After his Transgression his misery opened his eyes when seeking out remedies for his disease he made himself a Morality which taught him vertues to rectifie those disorders his disobedience had occasioned in his person Some call them the Reliques of Innocence Virtus ars est nou natura Senec. but without any reason Because the Vertues that accompanied that happle condition having no enemies were not obliged to stand upon their guard Others call them the Succours of sinful Man and that very justly Because they help him in his necessities and comfort him in his misfortunes They believe that Adam receiving them from God after his repentance for his fault taught them his children and left them these arms to combat their Passions But inasmuch as they went not to him who had bestowed them upon their father and had reserved himself the power of dispensing them to their children there remained nothing but the appearance and the name Concupiscence took the place of Charity and animating her false Vertues made them true Sins This made S. Augustine so often profess that the Prudence of the Heathen is blind and interessed that their Fortitude is upheld meerely by Vanity that their Temperance overcomes one passion with another and that their Justice being arrogant seeks only fair pretences to authorise its usurpations So that these Vertues have not recovered their Primitive purity but by the grace of Christianity They owe all their worth to Charity they are acceptable to God because they proceed from Jesus Christ nor can they hope for an eternal recompence but because they have a Supernatural and Divine Principle Therefore the same Doctor mingles Charity always in the definition of these Vertues Definitio brevis est vera virtutis ardor amoris propter quod dicit sponsa ordinate in me charitatē Aug. lib. 15. de Civ cap. 12. Prudentia est in eligendis Temperantia in utendis Fortitudo in tolerandis Justitia in distribuendis Aug. and makes them passe for so many severall motions or functions of Love In this conceit he cals Prudence an illuminated Love Justice a regulated Love Fortitude a couragious Love and Temperance a faithful Love But because this definition seems to limit these Vertues and many think they are not so much the Impulses as the Ministers of Love Let us say that Prudence is a Practicall Science teaching the soul what it ought to doe inspiring her with a love of good things and a detestation of bad and carrying light into the understanding teacheth it to discern what is profitable from what is hurtful Fortitude is a couragious Vertue making us suffer with an evennesse of mind affronts and griefs 'T is a victorious habit that triumphs in suffering and owes the best part of her advantages to the bitternesse of the afflictions that persecute her 'T is a stability of spirit against all the miseries of the world a resolution to fight and overcome all the labours that accompany life 'T is a Vertue whose generous humour makes us desire great things contemn low things and endure hard things or it is a Vertue that raiseth the soul above Fear apprehending nothing but dishonour and which instructs us to carry our selves equally in favours and in disgraces If we will shut her up within the bounds of Christianity we may say it is a Vertue inform'd with Grace preparing us to undergo all things rather then fail of our duty Temperance is a just dominion of reason over the passions but especially over those that flatter us by the pleasure they promise and employ voluptuousnesse to seduce us 'T is a Vertue that teacheth us to wish nothing that may cause shame in us or regret not to doe any thing that exceeds the bounds of reason to suffer nothing that may diminish her authority and foment the rebellion of her lawful subjects Or to use Saint Augustines expressions 't is an affection that subdueth the Concupiscible appetite and gives it not leave to hunt after those pleasures which are accompanied with shame or followed wich repentance Justice is a Vertue that prefers the publick interests before private and many times punisheth a Delinquent with more severity then his fault requires to stop the course of evil and to astonish other offenders According to the opinion of Saint Ambrose it is a Vertue which hath more respect to the service of others then of it self and considers more the advantages of her neighbour then her own According to Aristotle it renders every one their due punisheth Vice rewards Vertue maintains the peace of the State by the severity of punishments and the liberality of recompences Let us adde with Seneca though very blind in the knowledge of Christian Vertues that Justice is a secret Convention Nature hath contracted with men for the succour of the innocent or distressed that it is a Divine Law that entertains humane society preserves every man his right and not respecting the quality of the persons considers only their merits Finally 't is a Christian Vertue which enlightned by Faith animated with Charity obligeth man to satisfie at once God himself and his neighbour Having examined the nature of these Vertues it remains that we take notice of their use and the profit that ariseth from them S. Augustine whom in Morality I look upon as my Guide and in Divinity my Master saith that these Vertues are given to the soul to imbellish her and to arm her against Vices Prudence teacheth her what she is to doe is in stead of a Torch to light her in the darknesse of the world Temperance learns her not to bee charmed with pleasure Fortitude not to be vanquished with griefs and Justice not to be transported with her own interests or to expresse another way no lesse solidly and more pleasingly the obligations of these Vertues it concerns Prudence
will be all in all things he will poure out that in abundance which now he deals forth in measure and all the Saints possessing all the Vertues shall possesse God in all his perfections But the chiefest advantage of this Divine Banquet is that the Mess which is served up will be instead of all things as long as we live upon the Earth the misery of our condition or the frailty of our goods suffers us not to find our contentment in one single object That which allays our hunger quencheth not our thirst that which enlightens us covers us not that which serves us for a garment serves us not for a house and that which satisfies our mind does not always content our body But when we shall be in Heaven the Divine Essence will fill all our desires and being infinite will alone abundantly supply the fulness of all perishable Earthly goods Your God saith Saint Augustine shall be your All you shall feed upon him to satisfie your hunger drink him to quench your thirst rest upon him for your support make him your garment to cover you you shall wholly possess and he as wholly possess you you shall find in him all that others doe because both you and they shall be but one and the same thing in him For the last effect of this viand whereof we have but an essay in the Eucharist is that it will perfectly transform us into it self because all Scripture teacheth us that when we see God we shall be like him Scimus quoniam cum apparuerit similes ei erimus Joan. and that Glory having consumed all that was mortal and perishable in our nature we shall be happily swallowed up in him without ceasing for all this to be our selves Thus God nourisheth us in nature with the fruits of the Earth which maintain a body taken out of the Earth in Grace by the bloud of Jesus Christ which preserves the life he merited for us upon the Crosse In Glory by Divinity it self which is both together our food and our felicity The Second DISCOURSE Of the Nourishment of Innocent Man and of that of Man a Christian I If the state of Innocence be unknown to us by reason of its dignity or its remotenesse we must confesse that Original Righteousnesse and the fruit of the Tree of Life which were the chief priviledges thereof are so hid from us Immortalitas ista praestabatur ei de ligno vitae non de constitutione naturae quo ligno separatus est eū peccasset ut posset mori Aug. that we have but weak conjectures to judge of their properties or of their effects Saint Augustine that hath written most rationally confounds them so often one with another that he seems to attribute to the Tree of Life that which appertains to Original Righteousness For though we know that this united the soul with the body subjected both to God and preserving the one from sin exempted the other from death yet he forbears not to impute that to the Tree of Life which we impute to Grace and to allot it so many advantages that it seems the whole happinesse of man depended absolutely upon this miraculous Tree But having well considered the words of this great Saint I find his doctrine so conformable to Scripture that there is no doubt but it was suggested to him by the same Spirit that made Moses speak in Genesis For as nourishment is ordained to preserve our life we need not think it strange that it holds some analogy with the principle that gives it us and that there should be some agreement between the matter whereof we are made and that wherewith we are nourished Therefore may we say that the Tree of Life preserved in Innocent man all that Original Righteousness had indued him with and that the fruit thereof which certainly was a figure of the holy Sacrament repaired the wasts of the natural heat maintained man in his vigour and secured him from death Wherein I find a great resemblance with truth because it wrought that in man an Innocent which the Body of the Son of God doth in man a Christian For there is none but confesseth that this admirable fruit united the soul with the body that it entertained that good intelligence which made up a notable part of his happiness and subjecting the body to the soul by a necessary consequence subjected the soul to God Divinity hath not yet fully examined whether this Vertue were natural to this Tree or whether being but a visible sign of an invsible grace the Divine power produced this effect in man when he took of that fruit with the dispositions of a firm faith and an humble obedience If we take the Scripture for our Guide and Saint Augustine for its Interpreter it will be easie to judge that this effect depended not upon the disposition of Man but upon the Vertue of the Tree because we see in Genesis that one of the reasons why our forefather was driven out of Paradise was that he might not eat of that wonderful fruit and so the miseries he had contracted by sin be prolonged together with his life Saint Augustine explicating this passage makes us plainly see that man having lost Original Righteousness had not lost Immortality if he had continued to feed upon the fruit of the Tree of Life Thus we are forced to confess that this Tree had a secret Vertue which depended not upon the sole disposition of man and that it was capable of producing a quality in his body which desending him for a time from death had encreased his misfortune with his years But not to engage in a question more curious then profitable 't is enough to know that as this fruit of the Tree of Life subjected the body to the soul and the soul to God the Eucharist produceth the same effects in the Christian and being received with the dispositions requisite to this Sacrament calms the passions weakens Concupiscence enthrones reason For though Baptisme leave Concupiscence to exercise the Christian and this Sacrament which opens him the Gate of the Church gives him not victory together with life yet all the Fathers confess that the Eucharist more powerful then Baptism furnisheth them with forces to set upon this domestick enemy that it sweetens his fury in combating him and that the presence of Jesus Christ delivers him from this evil more obstinate then the Devil and Sin For whether the purity of his flesh cures ours by a holy contagion or whether Concupiscence tremble at the apprehension of a body which is the work of the Holy Ghost or whether lastly this Sacrament that preserves our life gives us strength and delivers us from that languishing impotency which seems the very soul of Concupiscence we find by experience that the body of the Son of God procures us the victory and prepares us the triumph If it defend us it nourisheth us and if it pacifie our disorders it repairs the devastations
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
from this misfortune it carries Eternity along with it and were it not engaged in a subject changeable and obnoxious to mutability it would be as Immortal as it is Holy Let us adde to this advantage that Grace cannot be taken from us against our will 't is a treasure we never lose but by our own default Perishable goods cannot be preserved with all our care cunning or violence may rob us of them and whatever prudence we use to keep them we are many times constrain'd to fear or feel the loss of them Calumny takes away our good name Injustice or misfortune spoils us of our riches a disease deprives us of health and death of life All these goods though precious cannot avoid the disasters that threaten them The Innocent lose their honour as well as the Guilty The rich are as much afraid of sickness as the poor nor are Kings more secure from death then their Subjects But Grace is a good which cannot be taken from us without our consent Potes aurum perdere nolens potes domum bonū autem quo bonus es nec invitus accipis nec invitus amittis Au. There is no violence can plunder us of it and men though in league with the Devils cannot make us lose it if we favour not their design by our weakness This is the difference Saint Augustine hath put between earthly goods and heavenly Those are many times lost in spite of the owners these are never lost but by the fault of those that neglect them so that the condition of the Faithful is very little inferiour to that of the Blessed because that if the one be certain their glory shal never have an end the others are sure their Grace shal never be lost unless they wil not preserve it out of malice or not consent to secure it out of cowardise Indeed inasmuch as they know that their wils are impotent and their inclinations bad they place all their confidence in the mercy of God they hope that he that converted them will make them persevere and having assisted them in the combate will crown them in the trumph The Fourth DISCOURSE That Happinesse consists not in Pleasure but in Grief OF all the Sects which have opposed Truth the most dangerous is that of the Epicures For though base and unjust in that it gave the Body preheminence over the Minde and Pleasure the right hand of Vertue Nevertheless it surprised men at first sight and seduced them by a name which bears some analogy with that of felicity For whatever Idea men fashion of this it is impossible to separate it from Pleasure and very casie to confound them together We cannot imagine such a thing as the supream Good but we must conceive it agreeable nor can we perswade our selves that there is felicity where there is not content This hath procured more Disciples to this shameful Sect then to all the rest and made it triumph over the reason of the Academicks and the supercilious vanity of the Stoicks Allsinners took part with this Philosophy Christian Religion which destroyed Idolatry hath not been able to ruine this and the Church bears those in her bosome who boast themselves Christians but are indeed Epicures The whole world courts pleasure by different addresses 'T is the Idol that hath most Altars and receives most Sacrifices The Ambitious are her slaves they adore Voluptuousness under the name of Glory and suffer themselves to be charm'd by the allurements that attend a great reputation The Covetous are her Votaries they offer Incense to this false Deity they seek for pleasure in the arms of profit nor do they so much doat upon riches because profitable as because agreeable Indeed the Supream Good is inseparable from pleasure and as you cannot see the Sun but must be enlightned no more can men behold the Supream Good without being charm'd Delectatio ex fruitione summi boni necessario sequitur Aug. If delectation be but a consequence of Happiness as some Philosophers affirm it is at least necessary and I account it no more impossible to see God and not love him then to love and see him without receiving contentment in him Therefore the errour of the Epicures consists not in placing Beatitude in Pleasure but in placing pleasure in the body because man being compounded of a body and a minde ought to be happy in both these parts Let us combate this Monster which against nature destroys not men but because he flatters them nor is dangerous but because he is over complacent There is no body but confesseth that Beatitude consists in a union with God by means of the understanding and the will we must renounce reason to oppose this truth and cease to be men to doubt of a Maxim authorised by all profane Philosophy God is the Ultimate End of his creatures and consequently their perfect Happiness The Understanding and the Will are the two noblest faculties of the soul the wings that make her soar aloft and the chains that fasten her to the object she loves so that she is never more happy then when united to the Supream Good by Knowledge and Love whatever hinders this union is contrary to it and whatever separates or removes her from God is the enemy of her felicity It is easie thence to infer that sensual pleasures cannot cause our felicity because they suffer not our souls to be united to God and imbark her so strongly in the flesh that she seems to have lost all the qualities of a spirit Impurity produceth store of miseries in the world nor can we invent too many invectives against a sin that defiles a man and of an Angel makes a Beast But the greatest of its enormities is that it inebriates our soul with its poison and makes us lose the remembrance of all Divine things Nothing pleaseth the slaves it tyrannizeth over but sensuality whatever affects not the senses seems not true they take the pleasures of the minde for meer illusions and as if the glory of Heaven were but a fable or an imposture they are less affected with the consideration of them then reasonable men with the reading of Romance This misfortune produceth another For as pleasure separates men from God it fastens them to the creatures their inferiours and debasing them below themselves Quisquis quod seitso est deterius sequitur fit ipse de erior Aug. communicates the bad qualities of the things they doat upon Love is a kind of medley it confounds those subjects it unites and by a wonderful Chymistry makes them pass one into another Thence it comes to pass that Kings become Slaves when they love their Subjects and renounce their power when abandon'd to dalliance They fall from their Greatness when they engage in an affection and as the noblest metals lose their purity when mixt with those of a baser allay Soveraigns quit their Majesty when allied with their Subjects Thus the man who gluts
so excellent that we cannot so much as form an Idea of it we want words wherewith to expresse its excellencies and the Scripture tels us That eye hath not seen Eare hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the happiness God hath laid up for them that love him This last condition would impose silence upon us if the liberty we take to speak of God though incomprehensible did not permit me to write of Blessedness though unconceivable But as we cannot fail when treating of the perfections of God we follow the light of Faith I believe neither shall I wander in this vast Ocean of Glory Qui ducem sequitur fidem à veritate nunquam potest aberrare Aug. if I sayl by that Star and however shipwrack is not to be feared upon a sea where all those that are Drowned may boast themselves Happy Scripture which is our guide in the mysteries of Religion teacheth us that Beatitude consists in the love and knowledg of God For that which hath deliver'd these words Haec est vita aeterna ut cognascant te solū verum Deum hath told us also Qui manet in Charitate in Deo manet Deus in eo Knowledg would cool without Love and Love would be blinde without Knowledg All the faculties of our soul must finde their satisfaction in felicity The Understanding must see the Truth it believes the Will possesse the good it loves the Memory be filled with these two Things it hath so carefully recorded Ita sunt potentiae in essentia anima inter se conjunctae ut quicquid unam laedit alias laedat necesse est Mars Fisc If these Three Faculties be not content something will be wanting to the Christians felicity and as they are united in one and the same soul the pain of the one would be the Torment of the other When the Scripture seems sometimes to give the advantage to Knowledg over Love or to Love over Knowledg it is only more strongly to express the excellency of both and to make us comprehend that as he that clearly sees God is happy he that perfectly loves him cannot be miserable Thence it comes to pass that the Fathers of the Church are divided upon this subject whereof some have taken the part of Knowledg others that of Love Del visio sumnum bonum Aug. S. Augustin though the Panegyrist of Love hath notwithstanding so fully expressed himself in many passages of his Writings in behalf of Knowledg that he seems to have forgotten what he delivered elswhere concerning Love For he will have the End of all our Actions and the repose of all our Desires to be found in beholding the supreme Good That as he is miserable who knowing all things knows not the Creator that made them he likewise is happy that knows the Creator nor is there any addition to his happiness in that he knows the creatures together with him Finally he saith in another place that the clear vision of God is the whole recompence of a Christian and that nothing can be wanting to his happiness when he fully contemplates the Divine Essence But there are a thousand places beside where this Great Doctor placeth Felicity in Love and represents the Blessed to us as so many Lovers who finde their contentment in the possession of the Supream Good Thus saith he true Happiness consists in that joy which ariseth from Truth known and Goodness beloved Beata quippe vita est gaudium de veritate hoc enim est gaudium de te qui veritas es Aug. He assures us that the Blessed have no other employment then to love God and that all the vertues are useless in Heaven except Charity He teacheth us that enjoyment which is the Rest of Love is also its Recompence that as desires disquiet Lovers when they possess not what they long for the Divine Essence would be a torment to the Blessed if from their understanding it past not to their will and if having illuminated them with its light it warmed them nor with its flames Knowledge then and Love make up the felicity of the Saints in glory but both of them are very different from that which is found among the Faithful Our knowledge is always mixt with darkness faith though certain is notwithstanding obscure and though an effusion of the light of glory hath not its extent nor evidence We see God but in Enigma's upon Earth the species that discover him conceal him These glasses are too narrow to give us a full representation of his Greatness and our spirits are too weak to bear the lustre of his Majesty But in Heaven he fortifies the Blessed by the Light of Glory gives them a capacity to look upon him and piercing their understanding is himself both the species and the image There are three things in the world which oppose our Happiness and suffer us not to know God perfectly The first is his Greatness which dazies or astonisheth us whence it comes to pass that the Scriptures assign him for his abode either light that hides him from us or darkness that robs us of him The second is his absence for though he be every where yet is he at a distance when he will and as his presence is not fixed to the Earth which he fils so is it true to affirm of him that he is no where as to say he is in all places Nullibi est qui ubique est The third is the weakness of mans soul which cannot suffer the presence of his God finds the condign punishment of his pride where he sought for the satisfaction of his curiosity But all these impediments are taken away from the Blessed The Majesty of God is no longer formidable his Greatness which occasions our astonishment gives being to their felicity and love having banished from their hearts all fear they treat with their Soveraign as with their Beloved The absence of the Supream Good causeth not their doleance They are possessed by him whom they possess his Divine Essence penetrates their very souls and they are so full of him that those who see them are obliged to reverence them as Gods Finally the weakness of their faculties hinders not their contentment the same fire that burns them inanimates them the same light that clarifies strengthens them and the same God that searcheth all their inward parts preserves them If their Knowledge have this advantage their Love hath yet more and their Charity is much perfecter then ours Whatever pains we take to love God upon Earth our Love is never without some notable defects which enfeeble it It is blind because Faith that enlightens it is a candle whose lamp is always surrounded with a cloud or smoak It is faint and drooping because we possess not the Supream Good which we passionately affect and being separated from him we are as well his Martyrs as his Lovers It is divided because self-love is not
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
puts us in the same Liberty and reducing us to things absolutely necessary rids us of superfluities This is it that confines the Anchorites to their pulse that gives them sackcloath for a garment a Den for a Lodging a Mat for their Bed This is it that enricheth them by making them poor makes them finde Liberty in servitude and equalling their condition with that of Angels frees them from the need we have of the Creatures If the Blessed have no communication but with God if they have quitted Earth to live in Paradise if the Love and Magnificats they bestow upon God be their whole employment and if in this one object they finde all their Happiness and their Diversion Pennance and Solitude procure the same priviledges to the faithfull Their heart is no longer in the Earth they mount up to heaven by their desires converse more with Angels then with Men and already enjoying the priviledges of the Resurrection lead a new life in their Banishment and a happy life in their wilderness Let us imitate their holy Examples fit our selves for Glory by Austerity and subjecting the Body to the soul and the soul to God set us to shake hands with the world that our Conversation may be with Jesus Christ The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the Miracles which are found in the Beatitude of a Christian AS Nature and Grace have their extraordinary proceedings so have they their Miracles Haec utique Deus potestatis suae proponit signa suis in solatium extraneis in testimonium Tertul. and in Both of them we behold changes which require the endevours of an absolute omnipotence When the Sun stands still in the midst of his course when the Earth cleaves from her foundations and opens her bowels to devour her Children when the sea passeth his bounds and makes inquisition after Delinquents beyond his Banks There is no body but looks upon these irregularities as Prodigies and who conceives not that the author of Nature disorders her to punish us Though Grace be so powerfull and its victorious sweetness so often triumphs over the libertie of sinners it many times produceth occurrences which pass for Miracles When it converted the Doctor of the world disarmed his heart and his hands and changing his will in a moment of a Persecutor made him an Apostle it seems so strange a proceeding may well be ranked in the number of prodigies when it touched that Comedian who laughed at the Ceremonies of our Religion enlightened his spirit upon the Theatre made use of the water he prophaned to make a Sacrament and by a wonderfull conduct made him finde his salvation in his very sin we shall not offend its power if we call this effect a Miracle If Nature and Grace have their Prodigies Glory which is their perfection may boast of those it hath and as its order is the highest so is it most miraculous Therefore did the Great S. Bernard confess That there were Three Unions that ravished him The first That of Virginity with Pregnancy in the person of Mary The second That of the Humanity with the Divinity in the person of the Word and the Third That of Glory with the spirit of Man in the person of the Blessed For he could not comprehend how it came to pass that the Creature was not dazled with the brightness of the Creator that a drop of water should not be lost in an Ocean and that an Atome should be preserved in the Abysses of a Divine Essence But certainly he that shall well consider the state of Glory will finde it a perpetuall Miracle and that the Circumstances that accompany it are so many Prodigies whereof the first is that God communicates himself entirely to every one of the Blessed The Goods of the earth are such scantlings that they cannot be divided without being diminished we ravish that from our neighbour which we possess our selves we cannot grow rich but must inaccommodate him and whatever care we take not to deal unjustly we finde by experience that our Plenty is an occasion of Misery and Indigence to others Monarchs cannot enlarge the borders of their State but must encroach upon those of their Neighbours they cannot widen their own Kingdom but must make a breach in that of their Allies and all worldly things are so small that being shared occasions the division and poverty of Families But inasmuch as the Good which the Blessed are in possession of is infinite it is communicated to all without being divided The Felicity of one is no hinderance to that of another and as Vertue though common is nevertheless chaste the Divine Essence though wholly shed abroad into a man ceaseth not to be entirely infused into an Angel It takes not from the Cherubims what it indulgeth the Seraphims and communicating it self indivisibly to all its Subjects occasions neither Jealousie nor Envie Great Goods have this advantage that they never suffer by division Magna vera bona non sic dividuntur ut exiguum in singulos cadat ad unumquemque totū perveniat Sen. Ep. 73. They make some rich without making others poor and as they are conferred in full weight and measure every one is content and none miserable Covetousness which hath divided Sea and Land hath not yet divided Time That which measures the life of Kings measures that of their Subjects every one possesseth it in common and though we make divers uses of it it runs along equally to all people Ambition which hath cantonized Honour hath not yet found out the Secret of parting the Light this daughter of the Sun never thinks she sullies her purity by rendering it common she equally shines upon all Nations and did not the Earth interpose between the effusion of her brightness she would banish Darkness from the face of the Universe The Divine Essence whereof the Light is but a shadow is shed abroad into the soul of the Blessed without being divided is not parted by being communicated All Angels and all Men fully possess it and if it make some difference in their happiness 't is without want or jealousie The Second miracle of Glory is that one and the same Good produceth all kinde of content and satisfies all sorts of desires Seeing the Creatures are but weak rays issuing from God as from their Sun there is none of them that possesseth all perfections Nullum est bonum praeter summum quo vere possimus esse boni aut beati Aug. They are bounded in their Qualities as well as in their Essences They cannot relieve us in all our necessities and had not sin made them rebel against us there was not one of them could remedy our evils Light enlightens us but cannot warm us without its heat Meat nourisheth but clothes us not Garments cover us but cannot feed us Gold enricheth but cannot defend us Iron defends but does not enrich us One Good produceth but one single commodity that which serves for one use does not for
more sensible express more regret they are not content only to look upon the offended part but they shed tears to comfort it and many times cure it by that innocent remedy The Head which is seated in the most eminent place of the body stoops to succour this poor afflicted he forgets his condition to satisfie his love and giving a fair example to Soveraigns instructs them they ought to be sensible of all the miseries of the meanest of their subjects the Heart Nemo regi tam vilis sit ut illum perire non sentiat qualiscunque pars imperii sit Senec. which from the centre where it is lodged equally enlivens all the parts discovers its sense of pain by its regrets and mixing its sighs with the tears of the eyes and the complaints of the mouth gives a loud testimony it cannot be at quiet when the members it inanimates are afflicted The Hands that are the faithful ministers of the body discover their sorrow by their quickness of dispatch being more active then the rest they presently visit the distressed part they sound the malady apply remedies to it and evidence that if they be not so tender they are more serviceable then the Eyes or Tongue If all things were well regulated in the Church if the Faithful acted according to the motions of Grace and if Charity that combines them together were as lively in their Hearts as in those of the primitive Christians we should see in the mystical Body of Jesus Christ what we behold every day in the natural body of Man The affliction of one of these quickned Members would equally touch all the rest every one would do his office according to his power and imitating the good intelligence of parts composing the same body some would weep as the eyes others complain as the mouth and others assist as the hands This certainly was the consideration that wrought so much upon S. Paul's affections Docet utique Paulus saue veritatem patitur sua aliorum simul mala infirmitates tolerat solatur simul de communisalute de toto orbe sollicitus Ansel and obliged him to pronounce those words flowing from the greatness of his love Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not For as he came neerer Jesus Christ then other Christians did being closer united to this Head he sunk deeper into his minde and remembring the complaints he himself had drawn from his mouth when he persecuted the Church he endeavoured to repair that offence by compassion and in Mercy to imitate him whom he represented in Authority All Christians are bound to live in this disposition if they mean to satisfie their duty they must be afflicted with the miserable weep with those that weep and calling to minde that they are the Members of the same Body they must see no Innocents persecuted no Godly distressed but they must do their utmost to comfort them by condoling their misfortunes 'T is perhaps for this reason that the Church is called a Dove because sighs are as natural to her as to that Bird who having lost her mate spends her life in grief and solitude The Church is a widow and consequently solitary her Husband left her when he ascended up to heaven and though she be honoured with his presence being deprived of his sight she cannot secure her self from that anxiety her love works in her but she mourns as the Dove because being made up of as many Members as she hath Believers she is constrained to give her self over to Sorrow when she sees them in Calamity or in Danger Having considered the Afflictions of the Church let us consider the subject of her Joy and behold the community of Goods she hath set up among her children in that which Nature hath erected among members of the same body The union of these later is so great that though they have different offices yet cease they not to take pains one for the other The eyes see and hear not saith S. Augustine the ears hear and see not the hands act and hear not the feet walk and act not nevertheless their correspondence is so good that the eyes hear by the ears the ears see by the eyes the hands walk by the feet and the feet act by the hands so that if we ask the ears Can they judge of Colours they would answer Being in the unity of the body they are always with the eyes and if they see not themselves they are inseparable from those whose office it is to see for them Thus continues S. Augustine as the eyes say we hear by the ears and the ears We see by the eyes and both of them We act by the hands all is common among these parts their difference destroys not their unity and though their employments be divers they live in so perfect a society that the advantages of the one part make up the riches of all the rest If Christians be Members of Jesus Christ they enjoy the same priviledges all their goods are common and if envie divide them not from their Head they possess in Him whatever is wanting in Themselves The Alliance they have with his Body enriches them with another's good without any injustice and like the members of a man which act in one anothers behalf they foretel things to come by the mouth of the Prophets they are understood of all Nations by those that have the gift of Tongues they work miracles by the hands of the Apostles and they attribute to themselves without vanity whatever the Saints are able to do in the mystical Body of Jesus Christ For one of the secrets of the Natural body saith S. Augustine is that the relation of the members is so perfect that each particular labours not so much for it self as for others The eye is the onely part that can see but it sees not for it self alone it is the candle of the feet in their walking of the hands in working and of all the other members in their employments Indeed if it discover any danger threatning the foot it endeavours to protect it and gives notice that it may be avoided The hand acts onely but not for it self alone it defends the face if stricken at courageously opposeth any enemy that braves it and knowing that their interests are common valiantly suffers the evil to deliver the body from it All the members are silent there is none but the tongue that speaks but she is their interpreter and furnisheth them with words to express their like or dislike their sorrow or joy Thus must we confess in the mystical body of Jesus Christ the Faithful receive no benefit which is not reckoned as pertaining to the rest If they be prudent 't is to counsel the simple if they work miracles 't is to convert Infidels or to confirm weak Believers if they have the spirit of Prophecie 't is to instruct the ignorant if they have the gift of
Tongues 't is to make strangers understand them and to gather up the children of God that are dispersed thorow all the world But that which exceedeth all belief is that the particular graces that sanctifie mens souls are common among the Faithful For of these Theologie acknowledgeth two sorts one which are given us for the service of others and respect more the benefit of the Church then our own sanctification such are all those graces that are called Gratuities whose principal end is the glory of Jesus Christ and the conversion of Infidels such is the gift of Miracles which doth not so much profit him that hath received it as those who see the effects of it because we know very well that this priviledge though extraordinary and rare may consist with sin and if it be not accompanied with much humility is as dangerous as splendid The other sort of Graces are those that make us acceptable to God blot out our offences look more to our own salvation then that of our neighbour and being not so glittering as the other are incomparably more holy and useful Now though these last kinde of graces be our own yet also are they common in the Church and those that are united to us by charity may in some sort make use of them 'T is certainly upon this ground that the great Apostle calls this vertue the bond of perfection because it not onely associates all Christians but renders their graces common and enricheth every particular with the advantages of the whole fraternity Therefore was David bold to entitle himself to all the good works they did that kept the commandments of God Particeps ego sum omnium timentium te custodientium mandata tua For though he knew very well his condition would not suffer him to be always at the Altar that the cares that accompany Royalty agree not with the sweet retirements of solitude and the bloody exercises of war gave him not leave to attend the service of the Ark he hoped nevertheless that Charity which united him to the Faithful would make him partaker of their merits and being a Member of that mystical body he should enjoy their Graces that made it up with him Thus this great Prince ruling in his Palace or fighting in his Armies promised himself a share in the Sacrifices of the Priests in the Tears of the Widows in the Illuminations of the Prophets in the Crowns of the Martyrs and that Love supplying the defect of his condition enriched him with their vertues without impoverishing them This also was the counsel S. Augustine gave the Faithfull of his time for knowing that every Christian could not have all graces Noli dicere in animo tuo ego si Christianus essem utique ad Deum pertinerem possem facere quod alius facit talis enim est acsi diceret auris ego si ad corpus pertinereÌ„ possem videre lunaÌ„ soleÌ„ non habet illud tamen nec auris nec manus sed faciunt fingula quod possunt cum concordia serviunt sibi inviceÌ„ omnia membra Aug. Hom. 15. Ex. 50. that variety is one of the beauties of the Church and that diversity of conditions contributes no less to her profit then to her ornament perswaded them to have recourse to Charity and to employ the credit of this vertue to purchase all others without labour His words are too handsome to be omitted Envie not said he to the whole company of the Faithful the advantages your neighbour possesseth but holily rejoyce in them and ye shall enjoy them with him Say not in your heart Were I indeed a Christian and had I the honour to belong to Jesus Christ I could do that which others do and instead of being engaged in the bonds of Marriage I would live a holy Celibate For 't is just as if the ear should say I am not of the body because I cannot see the light of the Sun in the mean time the hand hath not that priviledge no more then the ear and yet they are parts of the body as well as the eyes because though every member cannot do that by it self which all the others do they cease not mutually to assist each other and to possess that in common which they call their own properly After their example be glad of that grace God hath conferred upon any of the Faithful and you may do that in him which you are not able to perform in your selves He keeps his Virginity love him and you are continent with him you have the gift of Patience by learning to suffer let him love you and your patience shall become his He can fast and your constitution will not give you leave love him and his fasting shall be yours If you ask me how this can be 't is because he lives in you and you in him and you are both members of the same body for though ye be different in condition and in person by charity ye are but one and the same thing The Abbot Guerric certainly grounded himself upon this Maxime when he said that all vertues were common among Believers that the treasure of the Church was open to all her children and that when our condition or our weakness did not permit us to practise one vertue we fail not to practise it in another Caeteras virtutes etsi omnes non habent â—iligant illum qui habet quod in se non inveniunt in illo habent quod in se non vident sicut Petrus in Joanne virginitatis habet meritum sic Joannes in Petro habet Martyris praemi m. Gueri in festo pu Thus saith this great man Saint Peter and Saint John lived in a community of goods one found that in the other which he could not finde in himself joyning their merits together they mutually enriched one another and as Saint Peter was a virgin in the person of Saint John that beloved disciple was a Martyr in the person of Saint Peter So that the unity of Members which they had in Jesus Christ bestowed upon them priviledges they had not in their own person and Charity that united these two Apostles in despite of their condition twisted the Crown of Martyrdom with that of Virginity Martyrdom cost Saint John onely a little love without enduring the pain he had the merit of patience he triumphed without fighting because he lived in him whom grace made victorious Virginity cost Saint Peter no more his love procured him purity he was a virgin because he loved a virgin-disciple and enjoying the goods of Saint John as his own he found the merit of continence in the engagements of Marriage Quod tuum est per laborem menm est per amorem Greg. Mag. To give this truth a fuller expression we must make use of the words of S. Gregory the Great and say that in the unity of the Church one Believer gains that by love that another does by