to spirituall from temporall to eternall from the Kings of Israell to the King Messias and so also there is often passage the other way from the spirit to the letter and so in the rest It is also made very hard by the Equiuocatiō (n) The ambiguity of the Hebrew tongue of words wherof the Hebrew tongue is so full Which since it was the first and consequently the most compendious and short of all others it must necessarily containe many seuerall significations in few words And from hence it growes that generally such variety hath bene found in the Translations of the old Testament and some part also of the new Nay (o) The misplacing of points c. the very difference in placing a point doth make sometimes a different sense and so doth the manner either of writing or pronouncing a proposition As namely whē it is ambiguous whether any thing be affirmatiuely or Ironically or Interrogatorily to be read This with more is shewed by Father Salmeron For these and for many other reasons the vnderstanding of holy Scripture is very hardly learnt and we see by sad experience what diuisions doe abound in the world by occasion therof when men will call disobedience and pride by the name of holy Ghost and Euangelicall liberty There are amongst Sectaries of seuerall cuts and kindes sixteene different opinions concerning their Doctrine of Iustification All which they seuerally doe yet pretend to be grounded in holy Scripture and yet this Scripture it is which they will haue to be so cleere and plaine And vpon those fower words Hoc est corpus meum This is my body there are almost fourescore diuersities of opinion Our aduersaries themselues doe by their deeds of disagreement with one another proclayme the difficulty of holy Scripture which yet in words they will deny that so they may be excused in making it say what they list The truth is this That indeed it is full of difficulty and our Lord who made it so did with infinite loue prouide therin for our good and that more wayes then one For (p) The many and great goods we get by the very difficulty of holy Scripture See Salmeron vhi supra therby we are obliged as Father Salmeron doth also further shew to confesse the vnspeakeable wisedome (q) We are brought to a great beliefe of the high wisedom or God of Almighty God which doth infinitely surpasse all knowledge or conceyte of ours euen then when he vouchsafeth to expresse himselfe by words the ordinary signification wherof we vnderstand And (r) Our pride is humbled by this meanes he depresseth pride in vs and depriues vs of all confidence in our selues Heerby (s) It spurres vs on to prayer Psalm 119. he doth also stirre vs vp to make with all humility most earnest prayer to his diuine in maiesty that he will open to vs the secrets of his law as we see S. Augustine did and all the Saints haue done especially King Dauid who was euer singing of this songe It also growes through the great obscurity of holy Scripture that the Church is filled with much variety (t) It breds great variety of diuine knowled◠in the Church of diuine knowledge neither is there that possibility to draw seuerall true senses out of plaine easy places as out of such as are obscure According to that of S. Augustine The obscurity of diuine Scripture is profitable for this that it begetteth bringeth to light seuerall Doctrines of truth whilst one man vnderstandeth it after one manner and another after another And (u) It breeds diligence in study and care to conserue in memory for this very reason also learned men are incited to a more diligent and earnest study therof And consequently they wil entertaine that knowledge with more gust which they haue acquired with more labour This (x) It inuiteth vs to purity of life obscurity is also a cause which makes vs purify our soules the more because like loues his like And holy things will neuer be well comprehended but by holy persons Moreouer it helpes to maintaine and make good that order (y) It helpes to maintaine the Church in due sub ordinatiō Order in the Church which our Lord God hath thought fit to hold in the dispensation of his guifts and graces For as the superiour Angells doe illuminate them who are inferiour so hath he bene pleased that amongst men some should excell others in learning and diuine knowledge who as Doctours and Pastours might interpret the same to others It (z) It saueth Pearles from being cast to swyne keepes impure and wicked persons from knowing those misteries which belong to God wherof they are vnworthy vncapable since they will not vse them well And our Lord himselfe hath said in his Ghospell that so it was fit to be and that seeing Marc. 4. Matt. 7. they might not see and that hearing they might not vnderstand and that pearles must not be cast before swyne And lastly the frailty of our corrupted nature is excellently prouided for by this meanes since through the difficulty which we find in holy Scripture we are (a) It nourisheth vs in reuerence and a holy awe kept in reuerence and in a kind of holy awe wheras if throughout they were familiar and gaue easy accesse to all cōmers they might through our fault grow instantly to be contemned On the (b) The Scripture is wouen both with hard and easy thinges and this is of great vse to vs. other side if all the parts thereof were hard a like we should giue ouer to seeke that which we despayred to find And therfore the good pleasure of our Lord hath bene to make the holy Scriptures obscure yet with a kind of plainenes and plaine but yet with an obscurenes That by their plainenes in some places they might illuminate vs and by their difficulty in others they might exercise vs. And that the easy places might helpe vs towards the vnderstanding of the hard and the hard might serue to imploy our wits and to make vs know withall how much we are bound to God for hauing made some others easy And this is the substance of that which Father Salmeron hath deliuered both concerning the reasons which make the holy Scriptures hard and the fruits which grow to vs therby Through which we may easily discerne the tender and wise care and loue of this diuine Doctour of our soules Not only in giuing vs such excellent lessons but for hauing done it in such an admirable manner as (c) A demonstration of the loue of our Lord to vs in this particular that whilst we are studying them we must almost in despight of our owne proud hartes be imploying our selues withall both vpon the exercise of prayer and the practise of the solide vertues of humility patience obedience purity and charity And if yet we shal not think that our Lord hath shewed vs loue
our Redemption The misery is shewed and the errour is partly conuinced of such as doe not imbrace the beliefe of those diuine Mysteries CHAP. 50. VVHo shall therfore be euer able inough to admire this Soueraigne Lord of loue for the mercy which he hath shewed vs in this blessed Sacramēt of his most pretious body and bloud and for the care he hath taken of the cōpletenes of our comfort heerin Psalm 105. Quis loquetur potentias Domini auditas faciet omnes landes eius Who I say shall be able to declare Gods power and to proclaime his prayses And how much reason therfore is it that there should not be in the world any Priest or other faithfull Christian who will not set vp the rest of all his comfort in this life in frequenting this bread of heauen and in spending some part of his dayes and nights in preparing to receaue this diuine food with due deuotion If our Lord IESVS Lue. 14. tooke it ill in the Ghospell that they would not resort to that supper of his which was indeed a type of heauen it selfe and yet withall of this heauenly mystery how heauily wil he lay it to our charge if we be negligent in comming to this Table whē himselfe is both he who inuites to the banquet the very bāquet it self But O (a) The lamentable ingratitude of such as are not Catholiques misery to be eternally deplored euen with teares of bloud that in these woefull dayes of ours there should be any found with the name of Christians vpon their forehead who yet renounce the benefit yea and expresly blaspheme the inuiolable truth of this mystery Miserable creatures they are a thousand tymes miserable who do by this meanes eyther ignorantly or maliciously degrade and depose themselues from the most soueraigne point of Christian dignity which the infinite wisedome and loue of God himselfe was euen able with all his omnipotency to impart to the meanenes and weakenes of sinfull men Yet some of them being pressed as it were to death by the euident words of Hoc est corpus meum so often iterated by so many of the holy Euangelists haue begun of late yeares to affirme that they beleeue the reall presence of our Lord in the blessed Sacrament as well as wee but only that they dare not pronounce de modo But (b) Theyr speach de modo is a false and foolish stift our Lord doth know that they speake not as they meane but only to abuse the people Neither can they beleeue it as we doe according to their other particular declarations concerning this doctrine And yet in truth if they did beleeue the thing it selfe and did only differ de modo as they say they doe amongst which modo's or wayes they vnderstād our doctrine of Transubstantiation to be one how could they dare so wickedly blaspheme this our Doctrine cōcerning the modus yet professe that they are ignorant of the modus or way how the reall presence comes to be in the B. Sacrament But this (c) The scope of this book is not to teach faith but loue Treatise is not intended for the setling of the truth of the Catholike faith and to conuince them of errour who inpugne it but only to inflame the hart of the true Christian to heate of loue vpon those reasons and motiues which are already ministred by the light of faith to our soules That other taske hath bene performed by multitudes of our learned Authors wherof the world is ful I will only beseech them for the loue of our Lord IESVS that they will procure to purify their hartes from sensuality and other sinne which blindes that soule wherin it raignes till then we will wonder the lesse that men of so bestiall life as the founders of their religion were had no sight wherwith to pierce into so pure mysteries The carnall man cannot discerne of things belonging to God 1. Cor. ◠and if not of things which are but belonging to him how much lesse of the substance of this blessed Sacrament which is God himselfe as truly God as he is God who made heauen and earth In the meane tyme these people deserue much pitty at our hands who whet the teeth not only of infidelity against God but euen of Enuy against themselues For what doth it looke like but enuy since they refuse to beleeue and to imbrace so great a good vpon this cheife reason because they thinke it is too good to be true And (d) The counterfeyt sanctity and preposterous pretence of the humility of Sectaries this peruerse and preposterous humility togeather with a seeming to take such a counterfayte care of the dignity and Maiesty God is one of those bucklers vnder which they hide themselues from the darts of loue which he would faine be shooting at their soules For they say it is an indignity and what if a rat or a dogge should eate the blessed Sacrament and I know not what vnsauoury stuff of the kind But they consider not the while that God receaues farre more dishonour in being prophaned by a Iudas or any other obstinate sinner then if the body of our Lord should be eaten by as many rats as there are blaspheming Heretikes in the world That Sunne true Sunne of Iustice can well inough tell how to keep his beames from being defyled vpon any filthy dunghill And if he could not it would goe hard with him For the diuinity of Christ our Lord IESVS is actually intrinsecally in all the parts of all the creatures of the whole world both by essence presēce and power yea and in all the deuills of hell as truly as in any Angell of heauen or els that thing would instantly giue ouer to be And now if the (e) Note this most certay ne and apparant consequēce diuinity of Christ our Lord be in all vile places without any indignity the humanity how noble soeuer it be will be farre from disdayning to keep it company Little doe these deceaued creatures consider how low our mercifull Lord could be content to descend for the loue of man towards the receauing if there should be cause of dishonour by the meanes either of beasts or other men And I should thinke that the Temptation of Christ our Lord by the Prince of darkenes in the wildernes Matt. 4. might read them a lowd lesson vpon this subiect For there our B. Lord was not only tempted by the deuill but that diuine goodnes did suffer that sacred Sonne of the blessed Virgin to be taken as hath been said posted vp downe in those armes or hands which the infernall Spirit had assumed to himselfe for that purpose Or if they had rather looke vpon the Sonnes and slaues of the deuill then vpon himselfe Let them (f) Note also this consequēce behould how that holy humanity being so knit to God as that it made the selfe same person with him was
Apostle saith He who is circumcised is bound therby to fulfill the Law And lastly Gal. 5. when he who was the eternal spring the ouerflowing riuer and the bottomlesse sea of all sanctity would be contented for our good for the drawing vs by his example to loue paine and shame to be accounted by men for a creature as odious and abhominable in the sight of God as all sinners are But he thought not all this too much so that he might free vs from the curse of that law to which he would be subiect Aduising and enabling vs heerby to Circumcise (l) The corporall Circumcision of Christ our Lord must teach vs how to circumcise our affections the inordinate affections of our harts which are as so many veynes wherby the bloud of lise is drawne from that true loue which is only due to such a Lord as this who is all made of loue Now because this miserable race of men would not fully correspond with that incomparable Charity of Christ our Lord it was so much the more agreable to the iustice of God the Father to acknowledge and revvard this vnspeakable humility of his sonne And therfore then it vvas that he stampt vpō him the name of Iesus Luc. 2. Phillip 2. to which the knees of all Creatures should be obliged to bow Celestiall vvhose charity he had surpassed terrestriall vvhose life he had instructed and Infernall vvhose pride he had confounded And heerby vve further see hovv infinitely are vve bound to this Lord for this strange loue of his vvho vvhen there should be question of taking such aname as might be proper to him laid all such names aside as might expresse the Maiesty of himselfe and made only choyce of that name of Iesus vvhich might declare his Soueraigne mercy to vs. The Names vvhich grovve from God are farre vnlike to those which are imposed by men for these latter are meere extrinsecall denominations and the former are a most exact abridgement and mappe of those Conditions which grow within So that together vvith this name our Lord Iesus vvas sublimed to the office and dignity of a perfect Sauiour of mankind Not (m) What an yowor thy and weake Sauiour Christ our Lord is made by the Sectaries such a Sauiour as the Sectaries of our age are miserably vvont to make him vvho conceaue him to haue only saued our soules from Hell vvhich is but a punishment of sinne as vvas sayd before and vvhich punishment hovv great soeuer it be is incomparably of lesse deformity and true misery and vvere farre rather to be accepted and chosen then the least sinne it selfe vvhich can be committed but such a one as doth chiefly saue our soules from the guylt of sinne and that by sanctifiyng vs indeed vvith his inherent grace and not by a kind of Iustice vvhich only is imputed to vs vvhilst the vvhyle indeed it is none of ours Through the vvāt vvherof the leaprousy of our soules should not be cleansed and cured but only they should be couered and clad as those deceauedmen conceaue with the robe of his innocency Our Lord giue them light to see and knovv hovv deeply dangerously they deceaue themselues and dishonour him vnder the pretence of piety and peruerse and counterfaite humility vvhilst they make him but such a Sauiour as this Audi Piliacap 88. This errour as Doctour Auila saith proceedeth from the want of knowing the loue which Iesus Christ doth beare to such as are in the state of grace whome his bowells of mercy would not permit that whilst himselfe was iust full of all good things he should say to such as he instifyed Content your selues with this That I abound with these good things and esteeme them for your owne in regard that they are in me although in your selues you remaine vniust impure and naked There is no head which would hold such language as this to his liuing members nor one spouse to another if he should deerly loue her And much lesse will that Celestiall spouse say so who is giuen for a patterne to the spouses of this world that so after his resemblance they may treate and loue their fellow spouses You mensaith S. Paule loue your wiues as Christ loued his Church who gaue himselfe ouer for it to sanctify it and to clense it by baptisme and by the word of life If then he sanctify and wash and clense it and that with his owne bloud which is the thing that giueth power to the Sacramēts to cleanse soules by his grace which they impart how can that soule remaine vniust and silthy which is washed and cleansed by a thing which is of so extreme efficacy And in conformity of that which was affirmed before the same Doctour Auila doth also cleerly shew afterward that such opinions as that do no way serue (n) The doctrine of imputatiue Iustice is expresly impugned by holy scripture and doth impeach the honour of Christ our Lord. either towards the verifying of the Scriptures or for the doing of Iesus Christ sufficient honour For since the payne sayth he which is due to sinne is a lesse euill to any man then the guilt of the same sinne and the iniustice and deformity which is caused therby it cannot be said that Christ our Lord doth saue his people from their sinnes if by his merits he only obtaine that they may not be imputed to them for their punishment vnlesse first he should take the guilt away by the guift of grace Nor yet that he obtayneth purity and piety for men vnlesse by detesting sinne they may keepe the law of God This is the iugdement of Doctour Auila We (o) The catholik Doctrine concerning this poynt therfore according to that truth which is reuealed by Almighty God and propounded to vs to be beleeued by the holy Catholike Church his imaculate Spouse doe cōfesse to the ioy and triumph of our hartes with irreuocable vowes of the highest gratitude that we can conceaue for such an infinite benefit not only that he is the Sauiour of vs from hell which is but as an effect but from sinne also it selfe which is the iust cause therof And not only so but that he saues vs further also from the want of all those helpes graces of the holy Ghost which are conueniēt vt sine timore Luc. 1. de manibus inimicorum nostrorum liberati seruiamus illi in sanctitate institia coram ipso omnibus diebus vitae nostrae That being deliuered from the hands of our enemyes we may serue him without feare in holynes iustice before him all the dayes of our life At the end of which dayes we shall be admitted to see a day in heauen which hath no end and which admits no cloud This I say is to be the precious fruyte of this morning sacrifice of his Circumcision to put vs into a state which can admit no euening For as S. Augustine sayth dies
shew of peÌ„nance you said he had a deuill my selfe am come to you without any shew of such austerities but I haue applyed my self to your coÌ„uersation And now you say that I am a glution I would fayne win your loue but I know not how I would faine inflame you to the seruice of God but your powder it so wet that no coales of mine can giue it fire And I would to IESVS that through our sinnes we did not see this verified also at this day when the Sectaries and Politiques of the world are so fastidious as that they make faces at his Doctrine whatsoeuer it be Nor will they be conuinced either by the exemplar visible austerity and pennance of some of our holy Religious Ordes which were consecrated in the person of S. Iohn nor by the applyable learned prudent humble charitable endeauour of some other Institutes which hide their mortifications for feare of frighting mens weake mindes and which were designed and recommended by the liuely example expresse Doctrine of Christ our Lord and his Apostles But woe be to them vvho in case of temporall infirmity haue so ill a constitution as to conuert their Phisicke into Poyson And (f) This disease both of body and mind is very dangerous vvoe vvill be to these others in the last day vvho in cases vvhich concerne the soule doe from truth take an occasion of continuing in errour Or rather I beseech our Lord IESVS euen by the memory and merit of that Doctrine vvhich vvith so ardent loue he deliuered heere on earth they may at last find themselues conuinced by it and that imbracing it vvith their vvill they may escape all vvoe The same discourse is continued concerning the great loue which our Lord Iesus expressed in his Doctrine CHAP. 34. I Haue vvillingly entertained my selfe vpon the consideration of some circumstances vvhich concerne the aduantages of this diuine Doctour of our soules beyond all the Doctours vvhich are or euer vvere or are to be Because though no argumeÌ„t should be dravvn from the very Doctrine it selfe to proue the loue of him that taught it yet his person alone and the very manner vvhich he held therin vvas such as ought to oblige the most rebellious mindes that liue to all obedience Our Lord IESVS himselfe notvvithstanding that he had incomparably the greatest humility that euer vvas possessed by any soule did yet vvell vnderstand and iustly prize the dignity of his ovvne person so farre as to knovv that he tooke no authority from his Doctrine but that his Doctrine tooke it all from him Yet so great vvas his goodnes that although he vvere as perfect God as he vvas perfect man he (a) The sectartes will be beleeued vpon their wordes yet Christ Lord would not exact so much of the Iewes vvould not yet oblige vs to beleeue it vnlesse first he had prooued it by infallible testimonies But that being once done he was not to indignify diminish any one vvord of his Doctrine and decrees by alleaging reasons and proofes but only simply to affirme it This point I touch diuers times because occasion is ministred very ofteÌ„ and euen Popes and Princes who are but dust and ashes doe hold this stile and are wont to send out their decrees and to make their Edicts in a positiue and expresse forme And whatsoeuer earnest asseuerations or reasons should be added for the grace strength therof would many tymes be but as a contrary meanes to that end So that the (b) Euen the play nnes of the deliuery of the doctrine of Christ our Lord giues it great authority plainenes of the deliuery of the Doctrine of Christ our Lord is a vehement proose of the diuinenes of it Since being voyd of all those helpes of art in the arme wherof all other Doctrines put their hope this alone is a Doctrine which dares expose it selfe playne and naked And in despight of the whole wicked world it liues it breathes it gathers ground and strength amongst all the venemous weeds of the world And in despite of ignorance sensuality and sinne it strikes at the roote not only of all things which are contrary to God and goodnes but euen of all things which are lesse good and perfect And it (c) The Trophees which the Doctrine of Christ our Lord erecteth in the hart of man erecteth Trophees and keepeth tryumphes in the profoundest part of the harts of the ciuilest the worthiest the learnedst the wisest and the holyest people of the whole world The more sublime authority this Doctrine hath and the more aduantage otherwise the more infinitely are we Catholikes bound to that diuine goodnes which with an eternall loue did make choyce of vs as the disciples thereof And to the end that we might the more easily conceaue it with the vnderstanding and the more faithfully retaine it with the memory it pleased that altitude of diuine wisedome to abase it self to our meane capacity And when the Doctrine of it selse would not perhaps haue bene so well receiued to set it out by allusions and Parables yea and many tymes euen they are borrowed but from the figures of meane bodies See euery where in the holy Ghospell as of Plowes of Corne of Netts of Fishes of Leauen of Mustard-seed and the like Establishing by that familiar and easy meanes a kind of commerce and traffique betwene things diuine humane in the mindes of men And indeed if this Doctrine had not bene brought by the sweet hand of God to carry a great proportion to mans nature assisted by his holy grace what possibility had there bene that it could haue wrought such wonders in the world Making (d) The diuine wonders which the doctrine of Christ our Lord hath wrought in the world so many Kings and Queenes for the loue of Christ our Lord become voluntary beggars Making youth become chast old age obedient knowledge humble austerity so sweete and pleasant as that there are and haue bene millioÌ„s of people in the Catholike Church and our Lord be euer blessed and praysed for it and he knoweth that it is true vvhatsoeuer any Soctary shal either say or thinke to the contrary vvho insteed of fine lynnen haue inclosed claspedthemselues vvithin Girdles of wyâ—e and shirts of haire Insteed of delighfull bathe haue taken frequent disciplines in bloud Insteed of curious and costly beds haue spent their vvhole nights vpon the hard ground Insteed of sumptuous banquets haue entertayned themselues in rigorous fasts And lastly insteed euen of lavvfull pleasures haue exercised themselues vvith great attention in the mortification of the faculties and senses both of the body and mind This I say they doe they haue done and that vvith all the secresy they could and only in conteÌ„plation of the loue of our Lord Iesvs in conformity to his diuine life and Doctrine vvhich requires men to looke vpon his example to liue therafter which proclaimes
though euery one will not reach so high That we must be perfect as our heauenly Father is perfect And that whoso euer will be so must sell all that he hath and giue it to the poore and follow our Lord and that such a one shall haue his treasure in heauen That if any man would come after our Lord he must deny himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow him For he that would saue his life should loose it and he that would loose his life should saue it That his disciples must goe in Mission for the conuersion of soules without depending vpon the hauing of any viaticum or the wearing so much as shooes or carrying a wallet with them for any prouision That they must looke persecution and euen death it selfe in the face and not so much as premeditate what they are to say for themselues in those occasions These are the most fragrant flowers wherof that rich garment is wouen or rather these are the most choyce Iewells wherof that pretious Crowne is composed which Christ our Lord brought downe from heauen With intention to put it vpon the heads of all such persons as meant to be disciples of his Doctrine and to become Graduates in his schoole of Perfection And (c) The faithfull practise of the Doctrine of Christ our Lord makes men happy euen in this life verily euen in this life the study and practice of this Doctrine of Christ our Lord doth make men happy after a sort and put them heere into a kind of tast of that felicity wherof they are to take the whole daughts heerafter in the kingdome of heauen For so great is the purity power thereof as to lodge a man out of the reach of humane things by making him place his felicity euen in Crosses both of paine and shame wherof in such a world as this he shal be sure to haue no want And to make him see that his misery cōsists in nothing but in swaruing frō this way to his felicity Happy is he who feeles the truth of this in his soule and most miserable is he who although he feele it not will not yet beleeue that the thing is true For he who beleeues not this truth will neuer seeke it and he that seeks it not will neuer find it It cannot (d) Considerations which facilitate the practise of this Doctrine be denyed but that this Doctrine requires hard things at a mans hands But so it must be considered that he who teacheth it doth withall giue much grace wherwith to learne it A burthen is more or lesse grieuous according to the strength more or lesse which he hath who is to beare it And it is no heard matter for one who is of infinite power to giue vs strength to carry according to the weight of that which is to be imposed and especially if that power be accōpanied with a goodnes which is as infinite Indeed it we consider the Doctrine as it is in it selfe we may say it is not only hard but impossible and especially it will seeme so then when we accompany that thought with a deepe consideration of the miserable frailty of our nature the strength of our passions and the importunity of sensible obiects which solicite and haunt vs euen to death in euery corner But yet on the other side we shall beleeue it to be both possible and easy if we remember as I was saying the omnipotēt wise loue of Christ our Lord the aboundant grace which is deriued to vs from the merits of his holy life and death the exāple of many Saints who hauing bene made of the same metall with vs haue by the fauour of God and their good endeauours translated as it were their soules out of this wildernes of beasts into the paradise of Angells euen before they parted from their mortall bodies And not only hath this bene performed by Sains deceased but we doe most certainly know and conuerse with so good seruants of God as that in great measure they ariue to it also in this life So that we haue all reason to be full of hope that by the same meanes we may follow whither (e) Wear left without excuse it we do not follow where so many are gone before they haue gone before Or at least we are to confesse that the fault is no bodies but our owne if we doe it not For if it be a burthen Christ our Lord will make it light and if it be a yoke he will make it sweet And he who thirsteth after comfort is inuiced by the lowd cry of Christ our Lord to goe drinke therof at that liuing fountaine of his grace And a promise is made to all the world Ioan. 7. that whatsoeuer shall be asked of God in the name of Christ our Lord shal be graunted Matt. 11. And whosoeuer is either loaden with sinne or doth labour vnder those punishments which as the reliques of sinne doe hange vpon him is allured by the voyce of Christ our Lord himself to repaire to him that he may be refreshed And indeed what refreshing or comfort is there to be had in this life till selfeloue be laid downe and the pure and perfect loue of Christ our Lord be taken vp in the practise of his diuine Doctrine selfeloue and selfewill it is which puts vs to such paine in this pilgrimage For these are the rootes of all our inordinate affections which place vs as vpon a beacon where we are subiect to all the windes of perturbation and passion which can blow either of desires or hopes or feares or any other care whatsoeuer Yea and if we watch our selues well we shall find sometymes that euen concerning the same persōs or things we are in effect at the (f) This is most true how strág soeuer it may seem selfe same tyme both in hope and feare in loue and yet in hate in a burning kind of little enuy against them and yet vpon the mayne with an ardēt desire of their good And in fine we know not sometymes what our selues would haue nor what we ayle What meruaile is it then if we be often vnlike to what we had resolued to be that we are so extremely vnequall so mutable and so miserable How can we choose but be perfect slaues if thus we tye our selues to selfe loue which giues the plague death it selfe to al true liberty of spirit professed and imparted by the practice of the Doctrine of Christ our Lord which is only able to make men free This is not that prophane supposed liberty to (g) The levvd liberty of the Ghospell of sectaries which the sectaries of this age do intytle their Ghospel and which is indeed but expresse subiection to sinne and true slauery But true Christian liberty doth consist in vntying the soule from all imperfection sin in subduing mortifying our inordinate inclinations and passions acoording to the pure and perfect law of Christ
then the very death of God And since Christ our Lord being the increated wisedome of the Eternall Father would needs vndergoe all those torments for the remission extirpation of sinne it is a cleere demonstratioÌ„ that he felt the weight of our sinnes more heauily then he did his bitter and opprobrious death since no wise man would accept to suffer a greater paine for the excusing of another which were lesse So that as by the humility and charity of God which is so liuely exprest in the crucifixion of our Lord IESVS we are obliged to loue him and to imitate his Humility and his Charity so by the consideration of that Maiesty of God which we may discerne and of the high purity of his nature and his great hate of sinne we are taught to reuere him and to tremble 2. Cor. 5. and to carry firme resolutions to serue him with all fidelity and care and rather to dy a thousand tymes then once to presume to offend him in the least degree S. Paul declareth to vs that Deus erat in Christo mundum reconcilians sibi The (b) How Christ our Lord is the Mediatour betweene God and man ommpotent God did descend to be vnited to the humanity of Christ our Lord that so he might reconcile the whole world to himselfe and yet neuerthelesse they are few who will be reconciled to saluation by our blessed Sauiours death in comparison of the multitudes which are to perish For so our Lord assured vs saying Matt. 7. The way to heauen is a hard and narrow way and few will dispose themseues to walke in it but the way to perdition is a wide and easy way and it will be walked in by many Now this streight way was the life and Doctrine of Christ our Lord according to what himselfe had sayd Ioan. 14. Egosum via veritas vita I am the way the truth and the life So that it is not the only death of Christ our Lord which saues the world but that death must be applyed to vs by such meanes as the wisedome of God hath ordayned This meanes consisteth in our meeting with God in the person of IESVS Christ our only Lord. For as God descended downe by him so by him we must ascend vp towards God For this cause he is said to be medius mediator the middle person and mediatour betwene God and man and indeed the only true medius terminus wherby we may euer grow to a good conclusion The desire of Christ our Lord is to rayse vs thither according to his own diuine promise But a man is not drawne to spirituall things by force or by the paces of his feete or by the knowledge of his head but by the prayers and pious affections of his hart and the reformation of his life by a faythfull cooperation with the grace of God So as if we meane to reape the benefit of this Passion we must first (c) Beliefe of the mistery of the passioÌ„ of Christ our Lord. belieue with a supernaturall and vndoubted faith that it was performed by God and man for the redemption of the whole world We must then reflect (d) Consideration vpon it with most cordiall and profound loue detesting (e) Detestation of sinne our sinns which were the causes of his suflerance and resoluing as I was saying to dye a thousand deathes rather then to offend him who was so much offended by them We must (f) Reflection vpoÌ„ the vertues of Christour Lord. consider the admirable vertties which he exercised with diuine perfection vpon the Crosse and in the whole course of his holy life and death his humility his patieÌ„ce his meekenes his silence his purity his conformity and his Charity And we are carefully to consider that it was in his power to haue suffered as much as he suffered if he had bene so disposed without letting vs knowne the maÌ„ner of it But he was pleased to doe it in the eye of the world to the end that the world might see the patterne of all that vertue which it was to imitate And that as by the substance of his death he would redeeme vs so by the circÌ„stances manner of it he would instruct and oblige vs to his loue For this it was Matth. 2. that when the Angell reuealed to S. Ioseph that the Sonne whome the sacred virgin should bring forth was to be called IESVS he assigneth a reason of giuing him that name the Office which he was to haue in sauing his people from their sinnes And as there are belonging to sinne a guilt or fault and a paine or punishment so was this IESVS to deliuer his people from them both and not to be a Sauiour by halfes yea and by the lesser halfe in deliuering them only from the punishment of hell as Libertines make theÌ„selues beleeue but especially to free them by his grace and the holy example of his life and death from committing the very sinnes themselues as was * 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 shewed before For the application also of this death and passion to the saluation of our soules we must be led by this example to suffer such Crosses with patience as our Lord by the hand of his Eternall and Fatherly prouidence shall haue appointed vs to imbrace as the way and meanes of our saluation Our Lord in his sufferance vpon the Crosse did sanctify and facilitate all the Crosses which should euer come to mankind And as it is most true that to all such as apply this Passion to their soules by faith and loue the eternity of their torment in hell is conuerted by vertue of this sufferance into the temporall paines of voluntary pennance or else of sickenes sorrow pouerty shame and the like imposed by our Lord God or else into the paines of Purgatory supposing that they haue not satisfied in this life and though the temporall Crosses which they indure are withall made light therby so wee be to the world for giuing life to men who are so vnworthily wicked as to (g) An vnworthy most wicked erâ—our thinke that Christ our Lord hath suffred all that men haue in effect no more to doe but to belieue that he did suffer it How can such people thinke that God is wise if he should haue committed such a folly How can they thinke that he is Iust if he would haue falne into such a partiality How can they thinke that he is holy if he should haue exercised such impiety Nay how can they thinke that he is merciful if he should haue acted such a part of cruelty as it would haue bene for him to take his owne very Essence and substance his owne increated vnderstanding the second person of the most glorious and euer blessed Trinity and to knit that person by hypostaticall and indissoluble Vnion to the body and soule of the sonne of the All-immaculate Virgin Mother by the ouershadowing of