nihilo salvos facies illos nuila ergo hujus bona merita praecesseraut de quibus salvaretur imo talia praecesserant de quibus damnaretur Aug. in psal 55. and since the goodnesse of God is so jealous of our salvation it should of necessity furnish us with assistance upon all occasions There were some colour for this objection were Grace a debt but since 't is an Almes which God is no way bound to bestow upon any body I know not what pretence they have to complaine against its want of universality since in strictnesse of justice it might be refused to all the world The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Master of Grace he disposeth of it as pleaseth him and if sometimes he deny it there is none that can complaine The children of Adam lost it by the sin of their Father and the members of Jesus Christ lose it by their own The former are excluded by their birth the second by their infidelity The former are unfortunate the latter criminall and both of them living or dying in sin may justly expect nothing but condemnation But they reply 't is necessary that the holy Spirit acting in and by free creatures depend in his motions upon their will and concurre so gently with their free-will that they be rather the Authors then the Instruments of their salvation For we cannot conceive this dominion of the holy Spirit over mens hearts but withall we must apprehend some violence which diminisheth their merit and weakens their liberty Nature Reason and Faith furnish us with answers to satisfie these difficulties For when nature unites the soul and body together she intends that the Noblest should be the most powerfull that all the Authority appertains to him and that he shou ld be the Master of that part which is inferiour to him in dignity When morality united man with the Angel and gave Geniusse's to Philosophers and Emperours she was not afraid to injure the Liberty of Pupils by advancing the power of their Tutelary Angels nor did she never beleeve that Nocrates was a slave because obedient to his Familiar This Spirit whether good or bad indifferently applied him to all things he was his Councellor in his highest enterprises and the will of this Philosopher was so plyant to the motions of his genius that himself confesseth in Plato that he was rather Passive then Active Movebatur Socrates à Genio suo ut quaedam ageret à quibusdam abstineret saepe compellebatur Plut. de Socra daem In the mean time he complains not that he was forced he found pleasure in servitude and because his submission was voluntary he beleeved and that not without reason that obedience is no prejudice to liberty Faith perswades the same truth upon much stronger arguments for when it unites the holy Spirit with man it gives all the advantage to the Creator without supposing the least injury done to the creature it knows that God is more intimate with man then man with himself that he flows in upon the very essence of his will that he can change all his inclinations and being the Master of his workmanship can dispose of it as he pleaseth without the least umbrage of constraint His Providence leads men to their end with as much force as sweetness his force hurts not their liberty because accompanied with sweetnesse and his sweetnesse wrongs not his Majesty because attended with force whatever he does he always acts like a Soveraign his will findes no opposition that it surmounts not and when he intends to execute his designes he knowes as well how to prepare the heart of the guilty as of the innocent The first motions of Grace require no predispositions in the soul the second beget a consent without constraint and both of them bear away man with so much force and sweetnesse that he is never more free then when he is most powerfully drawn Sweetnesse so well tempers force that it is never violent and force so fully encourageth sweetnesse that it meets with no impediment it overcomes not Thus God is absolutely obeyed man sweetly born away the one findes his glory in his power the other his salvation in his obedience and both of them after a divers manner finish one and the same work This conduct is so distant from compulsion that the stronger it is the more gentle is it the more subject man is to it the freer his condition the lesse opposition hee hath the more happy is hee and perfect Jesus Christ owes one part of his Sanctity to the obedience hee rendered to the Holy Spirit the happy impotency hee was endued with not to resist him diminished neither his merit nor his liberty and hee blotted out our transgressions because hee was as necessarily as freely subject to his ordinances The nearer Christians approach to this state the more perfect are they the more powerfull their grace is the stronger is their liberty the more effectuall the inspirations of the Spirit are the easier and more acceptable is there conversion The sixth DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit teacheth the Christian to pray NAture whose providence cannot be sufficiently admired hath beene pleased that those things that are most necessary should be most common and that as it were preventing the desires of men they should of their own accord offer themselves to those that enquire not after them There is nothing more necessary then light for besides that it is the channel whereby the Sun sheds his Influences upon the Earth it serves for a guide to them that walk discovers all the beauties of the world and happily expresseth those of its Creator So is there nothing more common in nature it is communicated to all people it suffers no partition and covetousnesse and ambition which have divided Sea and Land have found no way how to canton the light As the Aire is more necessary then this so is it also more common it enters into prisons where day never dawns it entertains those wretches with life who have lost their liberty it steales into the depths of the Sea and the bowels of the Earth neither is there any creature that is not refreshed by its acceptable humidity Grace imitates nature it is prodigall of its Treasures the more Christians stand in need of them the more frequently are they dispenced unto them and out of the care it takes of their salvation its good pleasure is that the most usefull favours are also the easiest to be obtained Prayer is an excellent proofe of this truth for in the condition we are there is no beleever that stands not in need thereof the daily miseries they suffer obliges them to make use of it and amongst so many enemies that set upon them they have no weapon but this wherewith to defend themselves 'T is the portion of the Church Militant and being still in conflict she cannot implore succour from heaven but by the mediation of Prayer Angeli beati de
Fourth DISCOURSE That the Vnion of Christians with their Head is an Imitation of the Hypostaticall Vnion CHristian Religion acknowledgeth three wonderfull Unities which exercise her Faith enflame her Love and entertain her Piety The first is the Unity of Essence which is found in the Trinity For the same Faith that â—eacheth us there are three Persons in one God teacheth us also that he subsists in one and the same Essence and that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one God This Truth soares so high above Humane Understanding that it cannot be conceived otherwise then by the light of Faith Reason would deceive should she be consulted with in this mystery Man would not be more faithfull Considera quod voceris fidelis non rationalis si dicas hoc non est exponcre sed expositione fugere respondeo in die judicii non damnor quia dicam nescivi naturam Dei mei si aâ—tem aliquid temere dixero temeritas poenam habas ignorantia veuiam meretur Aug. Ser. 1. de Trinitate should he labour to be more rationall in this subject and hee will fall into the Heresie of the Arrians or into that of the Sabellians did he not subject his Reason to his Faith The second is the Unity of Person in Iesus Christ which honours the Unity of Essence in the Trinity though it be in some sort opposite thereto For as there are three Persons in God which preserve their differences in the Unity of their Nature that the Trinity is neither confounded by the Unity Decuit cum summa quâ— in Deo est unitate congruere ut quomo o ibi tres personae una essentia it a hic convenientissima quadam contrarietate tres essentiae fint una persona Bern. lib. 5. de Consider cap. 9. nor the Unity divided by the Trinity There are three Natures in Jesus Christ that subsist in one and the same Person and which without losing their proprieties make one composition which is called God-Man There by a strange prodigie Flesh and Spirit agree with Divinity neither are the two Others swallowed up in This Each Nature preserves its rights and as the soul is not debas'd by being engaged in the Flesh the Divinity is not disparaged by being associated to both This shines forth by Miracles the Other Two are obscured by Injuries In a word the Son of God never loseth his Equality with his Father nor the Son of Man his Equality with his Mother The third Unity is that of the Body which is found between Christ and his Church for though there be so much difference between these two Persons Love hath combined them so neer together that not confounding their properties he hath made there of but one Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and the Faithful the Members They live of one and the same Spirit their Interests are common though one raign triumphantly in heaven the other suffer miserably upon earth they fail not to be so perfectly knit together that the Body is happie in the Head and the Head is afflicted in the Members Of these Three admirable Unities the Second adores the First and the Third the Second For the principal designe of the Word in his Incarnation is to honour the Trinity of the Divine Persons by the Trinity of his Natures and to pay homage to the Unity of the Divine Essence by the Unity of his Person This Divine Compound is an Image of the Trinity it declares the wonders thereof by its constitution neither did he take pleasure to unite the Flesh and the Spirit with the Divinity but to express to the Faithful the ineffable Unity between the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit in the difference of their personal proprieties Indeed this incomprehensible Mystery was not preached among the children of men till the Word became Incarnate and their Understanding clarified with the light of Faith began not to conceive the Trinity of the Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence till it conceived the Trinity of the Natures in the Unity of the Person of the Word Finally the Third Unity renders honour to the Second seeing Jesus Christ entred not into society with his Church but in pursuance of the affinity he had contracted with Humane Nature It seems he was willing to extend the mystery of the Incarnation in that he made all men his Members to make them the children of God and not being able or not vouchsafing to unite himself personally with every Christian he became united to them in the unity of the Spirit and of the Body The First of these Marriages is the example of the Second and we cannot well express the Union of Jesus Christ with his Church but by that of the Word with our Nature The Resemblances are so wonderful that they justly deserve this Discourse to see if we can clear them The chiefest secret of this mystery is that the Plurality of Nature destroys not the Unity of the Person Verbum caro factum unus est Christus ubi nihil est alterius naturaeâ—quod sit utriusque D. Leo. Serm. 10. de nat Dom. For though the Flesh have its weaknesses and the Divinity its perfections in Jesus Christ 't is nevertheless an admirable Compound that preserves its unity in the difference of its Natures he acts sometimes as God sometimes as Man receives the adorations of Angels and the injuries of Men that obeys his Father and commands with him suffers upon the Cross and reigns in Glory that 's buried with the dead in the Grave and triumphs over the devil in hell But in these different conditions he ceaseth not to be one and the same subject who accommodating himself to the proprieties of his Natures mixes Greatness with Humility Joy with Sorrow Repentance with Innocence without interessing his Person The same wonder is met with in the Marriage of Christ with his Church they are different in their qualities and 't is a strange effect of Love that was able to finde out a means to unite together two subjects whose conditions are so dissonant The one is Soveraign because God the other a slave because redeemed the one innocent the other guilty the one reigns in Eternity the other sighs and groans in Time nevertheless their Union is so strict that without confounding their properties they compose one and the same Body and both together make up but one onely Jesus Christ Whence it comes to pass that S. Augustine who after S. Paul hath best understood this Mystery Totus Christus secundum Ecclesiam caput corpus est non quia sinc corpore non est integer sed quia nobiscuÌ„ integer esse dignatus est qui sine nobis semper est integer Veruntamen fratres quomodo corpus ejus nos si non nobiscum unum Christus Aug. in Serm. Quod tribusmodis Christus intelligitur delivers these words One onely Jesus Christ is the Body and
of yet must we acknowledge that concupiscence remains in those that are baptised making havock in their souls aswell as in their bodies that it weakens their wills because it divides them obscures their understandings because it sheds darkness over them troubles their rest because it stirs up seditions in their person which end not but with their life Let us say then that this innocency is nothing but a freedom from sin which flowing from grace causeth that the disorders of concupiscence render us not guilty and that there must be an act of the will to occasion the loss of that which grace hath endued us with This binds us so powerfully to Jesus Christ that we find more strength in him then in Adam and are more secure in our Banishment then we had been in the earthly Paradise But this Innocence though never so substantial is not quiet its conflicts make up the best part of its glory its enemies prepare triumphs for it and 't is always arm'd because 't is well assured Heaven cannot be gain'd now but by violence The fourth Effect of Baptism is the weakening of our concupiscence For though it remain in the baptized for their exercise it loseth much of its vigour being left an orphan in respect of the father that gave it life it droops and languisheth and separated from sin it gives us no assaults but such as we may easily defend our selves from The grace that assists us is more potent then the adversary that sets upon us and 't is upon this occasion that we may say Stronger are they that are on our side then those that are against us A man must needs play the coward to suffer himself to be overcome in a combat where the victory depends upon his own will animated with Grace If we want help we may pray for it and the Christian hath this comfort to know that his own consent is necessary to his undoing True it is inasmuch as he is not ignorant that his victory is affix'd to Grace and that Grace is not so due unto him as that it may not be justly refused him he hath still reason to fear and distrusting his own strength is obliged to have recourse to the mercy of his divine Redeemer Though all Christians are persecuted by concupiscence Cecidit primus homo omnes qui de illo nati sunt de illo traxerunt concupiscentiam carnis Aug. Tract 5. in Joann yet is it not certainly known whether it be equall in all for it is so impotent in some it seems utterly extinct all their inclinations are so good we have great reason to beleeve that Grace is rather the Principle of their actions then corrupted Nature and having had a greater share in Jesus Christ at their Baptism they have lesse of Adam then others of his Posterity Nothing pleaseth them but vertue sin appears with no shape but that of horrour and whether it be that Grace hath weakened Concupiscence or fortified Nature they have none but holy desires and just and upright hopes Others on the contrary have so many bad inclinations that Baptism seems not to have regenerated them Adam appears more in their actions and in their words then Jesus Christ the old man is more thriving and operative in their persons then the new and did not faith instruct us that the Sacraments infallibly produce their effects we should with reason doubt whether they had received that of Baptisme or no. These two differences can proceed from nothing but from those two Principles which we are equally ignorant of to wit whether some men have more transgressed in Adam or more merited in Jesus Christ then others have unlesse we will lay all the blame and misfortune of the later upon their own constitution or upon the disorders of their Parents who many times make them undergo the punishment of their debauches To all these internall Effects may be added a great number of externall ones which makes us greatly admire the power of Baptism For by the vertue of this Sacrament the Christian is freed from the slavery of Satan he changeth his Master as he changeth his Condition Hell is shut against him Heaven is opened to him the Angels look upon him as one of their Companions and seeing in his soul the Mark of their Soveraign they are very tender and respective of his Grace and Priviledges Circumcision had not this advantage for if it distinguished a child from an Infidel enroll'd him in the number of the Israelites and by the belief of his Parents shed forth faith into his soul yet all Divines are of opinion that it gave him no entrance into Heaven and that dying in that state they went down into Limbo the skirts and fringes of perdition The heavens were not opened till the Ascension of Jesus Christ He it was that delivered our Fathers from their Captivity and that he might triumph over Hell aswell as over Earth made them partakers of his happiness But to give us a clearer apprehension of the right we have to Glory by Baptism Baptizato Domino Caeli sunt apâ—rti ut declaretur nobis quid ex Baptismo operari possemus Div. Thom. he was pleased that the Heavens should be opened when he received this Ceremony at the hands of his Precursor and the Confession of his Father declaring him his wel-beloved Son was an Earnest and Pledge assuring us that we should one day receive the same favour From this advantage there ariseth another which greatly promoteth the Condition of Christians As they are ingrafted into the person of Jesus Christ passing into a new order they live under other lawes and I can hardly believe that they are subject to that common Providence that rules over all men For the illustration of this Truth which may seem strange because it is new Effectus rerum omnium aut movent aut notant sydera sed sive quod evenitfaciunt quid immutabilis rei notitia prosiciet sive significant quid refert puovidere quod evitare non possis Sen. we must suppose that the sin of Adam hath not onely changed Man but the World also The Elements bid him battel the Starres persecute him and the fires of the Firmament sparkle with pernicious qualities to infest him Mans life depends upon their influences his constitution is altered by their motions and the greatest part of his adventures are regulated by their favourable or malignant aspects Astrologers therefore have some reason to search for good or bad successes in the starres and to learne from heaven what shall happen upon the earth 'T is a book wherein knowing men may read the alteration of Monarchies the events of battels the birth and death of Soveraigns and all those other accidents which surprise the vulgar This Opinion whether true or false pretends to be founded in scripture In sole posuit Tabernaculum suum Psal 18 and that there are some passages in it assuing us that the stars are the
advice and hee that at first was his Principle proceeds still to be his counsellour and director The Christian enjoyes this advantage with Jesus Christ whatsoever designe he conceives whatsoever resolution he takes whatsoever enterprize he brings to passe he is alwayes bound to call upon the holy Ghost He that hath given him his Being ought to give him motion he that hath begotten him in Baptisme ought to govern him in the Church and if he will not be wanting to his obligations nor renounce his priviledges the same Spirit that inanimates him while he lives must move and lead him in all his operations This is it that S. Paul so highly magnifies when he sayes Those onely deserve to be called the children of God who are acted by the Spirit of God Qui Spiritu Dei aguntur hi sunt filii Dei Whereupon * Ergo agimur non agimus respondeo imo agis ageris tunc bene agis si à bono agaris Spiritus enim Dei qui te agit adjutor est tibi agenti ipsum nomen adjutoris praescribit tibi quia tu ipse aliquod agis sed ne te extolleret humanus spiritus ad hoc opus se idoneum jactaret ideo subjecit quotquot Spiritu Dei aguntur hi snut filii Dei Aug. Ser. 13. de verb. Apost S. Augustine preventing two contrary objections which might be made against this truth saith That Christians are not onely lead by the Spirit but driven to the end they may know that He is rather the Principle of their actions then themselves and that in the way of salvation they are rather sufferers then doers But because this answer might sooth men up in idlenesse and give them an occasion to neglect good works expecting the enthusiasmes of the Spirit he adds They are moved that they might move they receive the impression of grace that they may act and that the Apostle expresly made use of this manner of speech at once to make them shake off idlenesse and presumption From this Priviledge is derived a third not so peculiar to Christ as not to be common to Christians For the holy Spirit is their Master he instructs them both in his school and they have the glory to be his disciples as well as his workmanship The Son of God hath two schools as he hath two births the first is Eternity where his Father is his Master and where he teacheth him his learning in communicating to him his Essence There by a strange Prodigie the Master is not more knowing then the Scholar nor the Scholar junior to his Master the science is learnt in a moment but that moment endures for ever and though it have no parts it includes neverthelesse all the differences of time this science though but one comprehends in it all sorts of truth the Master hides nothing from his Scholar he instructs him at the same instant he begets him the birth of this Son to speak properly is his instruction as he is born for ever so he learns for ever and he that conceived him in his bosome is eternally his Father and his Master This Son hath in time another school and a new Master he that produceth him teacheth him and the same Principle that forms his body fashions his understanding from the very first moment of his Conception He imitates the Father that teacheth him from all eternity he instils all things into him without succession or labour and conveying light into his soul Vir erat Jesus necdum etiam natus sed sapientia non aetate animi virtute non viribus corporis Bern. he hath no need of the mediation of the senses to render him learned This Pupill discourseth before he speaks he conceives truth before he beholds the light and his understanding is inform'd of all the secrets of his Father before he could pronounce the name of his Mother His knowledge grows not up with time because it had its just proportion and measure at the very moment of his Generation Experience hath not made it more evident nor age more assured and if he pronounced no Oracles in his Infancy 't is because he had a minde to conceal his Wisdom as he had concealed his Divinity Finally this Divine Master taught him a science which Politicians seek for and cannot finde for he discovers to him the secrets of the heart the motions of the will and all those thoughts and imaginations which though they never brake forth in words nor actions cease not to render men guilty So that should Jesus Christ neither be united to the Person of the Word nor illuminated with the light of Glory he would neverthelesse have an infused knowledge whereby he would be acquainted with whatever is most secret in Nature and in Grace in Time and in Eternity The holy Scripture also teacheth us that the holy Spirit that abides not alwayes in others rests upon Jesus Christ Requievit super eum Spiritus Domini Isa and he that distributes his Graces to others by measure communicates them to his Masterpeece without weight or limitation But this is no hinderance from his being the Master also of all other Christians from teaching them the science of salvation discovering to them the mysteries of Theologie the secrets of Nature and the maximes of the Politikes In effect 't is the holy Spirit that made the Apostles learned that spake with their mouthes that confounded Emperours and Philosophers with their answers and made them understand those Oracles which were nothing but Riddles to them whilest Jesus Christ conversed with them upon the earth 'T is lastly the selfe same Spirit which to this day teacheth the faithfull what they are to beleeve in Religion what they are to do or leave undone in the practice of their life and what they ought to hope or fear after death He cannot deceive them because he is the Spirit of Truth he cannot engage them in evill because he is the Spirit of Holinesse neither can he suffer them to wander in Errour or languish in infirmities because he is the Spirit of Counsell and of Strength Therefore is he the Master whom the faithfull consult with in their occasions 't is in his Schoole that they commence in vertue 't is under his Conduct that they grow up to perfection and by his advice that they defend themselves against errour and falshood Vbi Deus Magister quam cito discitur quod docetur Leo Serm. 1. de Pente Though this Science be so deep yet is it learnt in a moment his Disciples become Masters without paines Truth distils into their understandings without passing through their eyes or eares sleeping and waking they are equally capable of attention and this Doctor is so dextrously exact that bestowing the Spirit upon his scholars he repaires by Grace the defects of Nature But to conclude all these resemblances we affirm that the holy Spirit is the witnesse of Jesus Christ and of
respect towards him he puts on rather the deportment of a Lover then of a Soveraign he gains his will without forcing it and though he knows the secret whereby to be obeyed 't is always with so much sweetness that he that suffers himself to be overcome hath reason to believe he gets the Victory Therefore doth the Scripture never speak of this Change but as of a work common to God with Man And when Saint Augustine observes the differences between Conversion and Creation he bears witness to this truth in these words Qui creavit te sine te non salvabit te sine te But not to enter into Disputes more Curious then Profitable Si conversio peccatoris non est majoris potentiae quà m creatio universi saltem est majoris miscricordiae Aug. let us be content to conclude with the same Saint Augustine that if the Conversion of a sinner require not more Power it supposeth at least more Mercy then Creation because if in This God obligeth the Miserable in That he obligeth the Criminal shewing Favour to those that could expect nothing but severity of Punishments Therefore is it that the Conversion of a sinner belongs to the Holy Spirit and a work that bears the Character of Goodness must needs have no other Principle but he to whom this Divine Perfection is attributed in the Scripture 'T is true that after he hath shewed mercy to sinners he performs a piece of most exemplary Justice and animating them against themselves he obliges them to take revenge and punishment upon themselves For one of the most admirable effects of the Spirit of Love is to produce hatred in the spirit of Penitents Quia ergo non potest esse confessio punitio peccati in homine à seipso cum quisque sibi irascitur sibi displicet sine dono Spiritûs sancti non est Aug. in Psal 50. and to satisfie the Majestie of God by the excess of their Austerities towards themselves They look upon themselves as guilty of Treason against the Divine Majestie they stay not till his Justice punish them they prevent his Sentence by their own Resolutions and invent more tortures to wrack themselves then the Executioners have been witty in to torment Martyrs with This is that Divine Spirit which hath driven the Anchorites into the desarts made the Antonines go down into caves and holes of the earth made the Stilites fix upon the top of Pillars which found out sackcloth and discipline to make as many Wretches as he had made Penitents All the Austerity that is in Christianity takes its birth from the love he inspires into the Faithful Their Rigour is proportionable to their Charity the more the holy Spirit possesseth them the more are they set against Themselves and we may affirm with reason that as much as they grow in his Love so much do they grow in the Hatred of their Sin This is it perhaps that our Saviour would have us understand when he told us that the holy Spirit should judge the world and should oblige sinners to punish themselves for the offences they have committed He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement We cannot understand this Truth if we conceive not that the Father hath judged all men in his Son and having charged him with their iniquities hath charged him also with the punishments due for them From this moment they have no engagements to sue out with the Father and the Father satisfied with the Passion of his Son protests that he hath signed over to him all the right of judging the world The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son The Son by vertue of this resignation shall judge all men at the end of the world and being become their Judg and their Partie will pronounce the definitive sentence of their Eternity In expectation of this day of Doom the holy Spirit judgeth men that are converted and mixing meekness with severity in these determinations he obliges them to undergo a scrutiny upon earth to be delivered from the torments of hell Nor are we to think it strange that he that is so gentle is withall so rigorous since the Poets have bestowed these two qualities upon Love For these pleasant Tel-tales have feigned that he was the severest of all the Gods that he bathed himself in tears lived upon blood and more cruel then Tyrants took pleasure in the torments of his subjects But Christian Religion that conceals Truth under the shadow of our Mysteries teacheth us that the love of God is severe that he exacts chastisements from those he inanimates that he engageth his Lovers in penance and more strong then death which parts soul and body he divides between the soul and the spirit and exerciseth a Tyranny over whole entire man True it is the torments he inflicts are always mix'd with pleasures he makes Roses grow among Thorns and amidst such a throng of Penitents that bid him battel there is not one complains of his sufferings 'T is enough that persecuting themselves Haec tristitia quae poenitcutiam ad salutem stabilem operatur laeta est ac spe profectus sui vegetata cunctam affabilitatis retinet suavitatem Cassian l. 9. c. 11. they are perswaded they satisfie him whom they have offended the same consideration that afflicts them comforts them and when they meditate that God that loves them is infinite they meet with no pain that is not short nor any torment that is not joyous They are better accompanied in the Desarts then the Monarchs in their Palaces their humiliations are more glorious then the Triumphs of Conquerors their poverty is more happy then abundance of riches and their ascetick life more full of charms then the pleasures of the world Though the holy Spirit be thus favourable to Penitents yet fails he not to be very severe against sinners if he pardon the offences committed against the Father and the Son he never pardons those that are committed against his own Person and the holy Scriptures teach us Blasphemia in Spiritum sanctum non remittetur in hoc seculo nec in futuro Mat. 12. that of all the sins in the world none are irremissible but those which do despite to the Holy Ghost This passage leaves all our Expositors at a losse every one forgeth new Principles to resolve the difficulties thereof and there are few but strive to invent something upon a subject so often handled and so little cleared Some divide sins into three Orders according to the perfections which are commonly applyed to the three Divine Persons The first comprehends sins of infirmity which seem to clash against the Person of the Father Peccata alia sunt infirmitatis quae Patri cujus est potentia adversantur alia ignorantiae quae Filio cujus est sapientia alia malitiae quae Spiritui sancto cujus est bonitas D. Thom. in Paulum to whom power
he encouraged his Apostles to Martyrdom and providing Graces for all his Members inspired them with strength to vanquish pleasure and subdue grief For though the Son of God be the Head of men in all the conditions of life because he was so before his birth nevertheless he exerciseth this Office in a time when others cannot Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso Excedit humanum conditionem ista promissio nec tam de ligno Crucis quà m de Throno editur potestatis Leo. He founded his Church in dying he acted like a Soveraigne when they deprived him of life he pardoned offenders when they handled him as a delinquent he disposed of the kingdom of heaven when they disputed his kingdom upon earth and making his power appear in his weakness his innocence in his execution and his grandeur in his affronts he takes pleasure to confound the pride of his enemies But me thinks there is no quality makes him shine forth with so much pomp upon the Cross as that of being the Head For besides that it was in this place that he offered up himself for his Elect and by bonds as strong as they are secret united them to his Person that neither sin nor death can ever separate them from him it was there that he made that wonderful Bargain with them where charging himself with their sins he invested them with his merits and taking upon him the quality of a sinner communicated to them that of innocents There it was that he espoused the Church and accomplishing that Figure which preceded in the person of Adam and Eve he was willing to die that his Spouse might live For the holy Scripture not without a Mystery observes that Eve was taken from the side of Adam whilst he was asleep that all the world might know that the Church must proceed from the side of Christ when he hung dead upon the Cross God could saith S. Augustine have formed the woman of her husband whilst he was awake had there not been some Mystery couched under that Ceremony for if we say God chose that time to rid man from all sense of pain it was too violent not to awaken him and if we say man felt it not because God wrought the work he could as easily have taken away the rib when he was awake as when he lay asleep But he had a minde to express that in Paradise which was to be acted upon mount Calvary and teach us that as Eve issued from the side of her sleeping husband the Church should issue from the side of dying Jesus If this Mystery heightens the love and power of Jesus Christ we must confess it augments withal the obligations Christians have to death and sufferings For Christ conceived us in the midst of his wounds we are the children of his sorrows and his Church cost him much more pain and trouble then Eve did the first Adam Sicut dormienti Adae costa detrabitur ut conjux efficiatur ita Christo morienti de latere sanguis effunditur ut Ecclesia construatur communicantes namque corpori sanguini efficimur Ecclesia Christi conjux Aug. His spouse never broke his sleep she rose from his side without any pang or violence he found himself happily married when he awoke and he judged her a piece of himself more from his inclination then his grief But Jesus lost his life to bestow it upon the Church his body must be opened and his heart pierced to form his Bride this Maid was to be sought for in the bowels of her Father and an incision made into the side of the Parent to be the Midwife to this Posthuma As this Quality was dear bought and like David he was fain to mingle his own blood with that of the Philistims to purchase his Church his minde is that the children of so dolorous a Marriage breathe nothing but sufferings and remembring that they are the babes of a God dying upon the Cross they should pass their whole life in sorrow and tribulations For what likelihood is there that being born in pain and anguish they should seek after delights and pleasure That they should be crowned with Roses when their Head was encircled with Thorns That they should be ambitious after the glory of the world since he that gave them being died amongst ignominy and reproaches or that they should seek revenge for their injuries when he from whom they descend begged as a favour the pardon of his enemies Let us imitate our Chief because he is our Example let us remember that all our happiness depends upon our union and conformity with him Let us often meditate that the Father loves none but his onely Son That none can have a part in his Inheritance that is not united to Jesus Christ That he onely can ascend up into heaven that came down from thence That as there is but one Guilty man so there is but one Innocent and as all the Reprobate are involved in the sin of Adam all the Predestinate are wrapt up in the grace of Jesus Christ The Third DISCOURSE Of the strict Vnion of the Head with the Members and of that of Jesus Christ with Christians ALl Polititians acknowledge that the Soveraign being the Head of the State is united with his Subjects and that their union is so neer that their interests are in common He that offends the Prince wrongs the State he that attempts any thing against his sacred Person wounds all those that live in his Kingdom and as Nature teacheth all members to expose themselves for the preservation of their head the Politicks teach all Subjects to venture themselves for the defence of their Soveraign But forasmuch as the obligations are mutual and reciprocal the same Politicks read a Lecture to Kings that they are bound to preserve their Subjects to spare their blood and to handle offenders as corrupted members which are never cut off from the body but with sorrow and necessity The Prince must be sensible of every part of his State that perisheth every blowe that lights upon it pierceth his heart and his love towards it must be such that he be ready to lay down his life for them when he shall judge their safety to depend upon his death This is the reason Seneca sometimes made use of to sweeten the cruel humour of Nero and to instil clemency into the heart of that bloody Parricide Thou said he art the head of the Common-wealth whence thou mayst ghess how necessary Clemency is to thee since in pardoning others thou art pitiful to thy self and favouring thy subjects art kinde to him that lives in them as in his members If we believe this Philosopher there was a time when Nero profited by this advice and this Truth had so powerful an impression upon his spirit that he was witty to finde out pretences to spare the blood of delinquents For to use Seneca's own words When there came an offender before him who
more delight him Nay the Lascivious wanton is not so much in love with beauty as with pleasure because he placeth his affection sometimes upon objects that have no appearance of beauty and many times forsakes a handsome woman to court a deformed one Thus pleasure is a powerfull charm that masters all hearts plunders liberties and makes slaves that never complain of their bondage because they are voluntary Lovers that seek the secret of purchasing affection study nothing but complacency being assured they shall produce love in that heart where they have begot pleasure Flatterers never insinuate into the minds of great men but by rendring themselves acceptable nor doe their false Commendations steal in at the ears but because pleasure takes up the place of truth The very Devils though our mortall enemies seduce us not but because they please us and had they not found out the art of mixing pleasure with sin all their temptations would be fruitless But the will of man though never so free hath such an inclination toward pleasure that did she never so strongly barracado her self she could not possibly resist it she holds out against truth because she is blind and sees not the beauties 't is adorned with she secures her self against violence because she is free and naturally opposeth whatever seems to incroach upon her liberty she does not acquiesce in reason because she is deaf nor hears any discourse but such as charms the understanding by convincing it But pleasure hath allurements which she can no wayes withstand she trembles when ever it sets upon her she is afraid to lose her liberty in his presence and knowing the power it hath over her inclinations she cals in sorrow to her succour to guard her against this pleasing enemy If it be true that pleasure reigns absolutely over the will we need not think it strange that grace which is nothing else but a victorious suavity hath such advantage over her for besides that this Heavenly influence surpasseth all the delights in the world that charm us having more allurements then glory and beauty that makes so many Lovers and Martyrs it insinuates much deeper into the will then whatever ravisheth us mortals Tunc enim bonum concupisci incipit cum dulcescere incipit ergo benedictio dulcedinis est gratia Dei qua fit in nobis ut nos delectet cupiamus hoc est amemus quod praecipit nobis Aug. Being in the hands of Jesus Christ whom nothing can resist it glides into the very Center of our heart making impressions there that are never more strong then when they are most agreeable thence it cashieres all pleasures that have unjustly usurpt upon us and knowing all the weaknesses of the place it sets upon we need not wonder if she make her self mistresse Other pleasures enter not into the will but at the gate of the senses they have lost half their strength before they can make their approach and her inclinations being unknown to them they many times cause aversion intending to procure love But grace wooes the heart without the mediation of the senses and more powerfull then pleasures that act not upon all the faculties of the soul carries light into the understanding faithfulnesse into the memory and pleasure into the will so that we need not wonder if the sinner suffer himself to be overcome by a Divine quality that sheds delight into all the powers and faculties of the soul That which Grace effects thus agreeably by pleasure it brings to pass more powerfully by Love For according to the judgement of S. Augustine Amor imperiü babet super omnes animae vires propter hoc quod ejus objectum est bonum Aristo Di. Tho. and when God means to convert a sinner his sole design is to make him his Lover Love is the Master of all hearts There is no impossibility this passion undertakes not Miracles are his sports and all the prodigies Antiquity hath teem'd with are nothing but the effects of this Soveraign Scripture is never more eloquent then when it intends to express the force thereof nothing satisfies it in this design all words seem too weak to express its conceptions and finding no comparisons that answer the dignity of the subject it descends to the Tombes where having considered the Trophies of death is forc'd to confess that his power equals not that of Love it passeth to the very Center of the Earth observes the unrelenting hardness of Hel and comparing the pains of the damned with the anxiety of lovers leaves us in doubt whether Hel or Love be more pitiless But not to aggravate his power by such strange comparisons let it suffice to judg of him by his effects Though he be the son of the Wil yet is he the Master he disposeth so absolutely of his Mother that she hath no motions but what her Son inspires her with she undertakes nothing but by his orders 't is the weight that sets her a going the Loadstone that attracts her the King that governs her and she so absolutely depends upon his power that nothing but another love can dis-engage her she is so fierce or so free that neither violence nor fear can tame her she laughs at tortures preserves her liberty in the midst of fetters and many times torments make her but more wilfull Only Love mollifies her hardness his charmes gain upon her what sorrow cannot and experience teacheth us there is no surer Command then that which is founded upon Love In the mean time Vanity which is almost the inseparable companion of Greatness perswades Kings that 't is a debasement to seek the love of their subjects and seduced by this false Maxime they endeavour to make themselves feared not being able to make themselves beloved But God who hath formed the heart of man and knows how they may be vanquished without being forc'd owes all his Conquests to his Love he never appears more absolute then when he tames a rebellious Will when of an Enemy he makes a Lover and changing his inclinations sweetly compels him to fall in love with him Forinsecus terret per Legem intrinsecus delectat per Amorem Aug. His Power sparkles in his Corrections he astonisheth sinners when he loosens the mountains from their foundations when he makes the earth shake under their feet the thunder rumble over their heads and threatens the world with an universal Deluge or a general Conflagration But all these menaces convert not the Guilty the fear that terrifies them reduceth them not to their duty their heart remains criminal when their mouthes and their hands be innocent and if God inspire not his love into them he punisheth indeed their offence but changeth not their Will This prodigious Metamorphosis is reserved for his love 't is his charity that must triumph over rebels nor is there any thing but his Grace that by its imperious sweetness can oblige a sinner to love him I am not
afraid to injure mans Liberty in using terms so significant because supposing Grace nothing but Love it can do no violence to the Will for of all the things in the world there is none freer then Love A man cannot complain that he is forced when nothing but charms of affection are employed to gain him and if there are some Lovers that have blamed the rigour of their mistresses there is none that have found fault with their love If it be an Evil 't is a voluntary one it hurts none but those that willingly embrace it and of so many punishments that torment us there is none more innocent because none more free Crowns may be snatched from Soveraigns Confidence may be taken from Philosophers Orators may be convinced any man may lose his life but whatever stratagems are made use of whatever violence men practise a Lover cannot be forced nor his love extorted from him Seeing then Grace is nothing but Charity and Charity nothing but a holy Love we must not apprehend violence nor imagine that the assaults of this divine quality can at all injure our Liberty because it does not disengage us from evil but by obliging us to love God If Grace cannot force our Will because it is a victorious love it ought less to constrain it because according to the language of S. Augustine 't is a pleasant perswasion For this great man considering that he was to deal with Free-will on one side and the Power of Grace on the other that he was to maintain the Empire of God and the Liberty of Man he hath always exprest himself so happily that he never prejudic'd either and as indeed Grace never forceth Man but perswades him it holds something of Eloquence or of Reason that triumphs over Liberty without compelling it Rhetorick is an Art that teacheth us to perswade Truth Orators are agreeable Soveraigns that bear rule over the mindes of their Auditors that calm their Passions change their Designes Quid enim inter Pisistratum Periclem interfuit nisi quod ille armatus hic sine armis tyrannidem gessâ—â— Cicer. and gently force their Wills Therefore was it unhandsomely done of that Ancient to compare Pericles with Pisistratus because this Tyrant domineered but over mens Bodies that Orator exercised a dominion over their Souls the one made use of Violence the other employed nothing but Sweetness the one procured the hatred of his Subjects the other the love of his Auditors For no man could complain of Pericles because he used nothing but Eloquence to perswade his Command was founded upon Reason his chief Force consisted in Truth he subjected no Understandings but by clearing them nor changed any mens Wills but in taking them by their interests or their inclinations In a word Eloquence may boast her self a Soveraign that reigns without arms subdues people by her word convinceth Philosophers by her reasons and subjects Monarchs by her power She protects the Innocent comforts the Distressed condemns or absolves the Guilty and as she animates the Advocates or the Judges produceth different miracles in their souls Whether she inchant the Ears by the harmonious cadencies of her Periods whether she excite love and hatred by her gestures her principal designe is to master the Liberty of Man She sets not upon the Understanding but to gain the Will she appears complacent that she may be perswasive nor doth she require the attention or her auditors but that she may get their consent 'T is true never any man complains of her violence because she is sweet and he that hath changed his minde at the hearing of an Orator never accused him of Tyranny 'T is certainly upon this ground that S. Augustine calls Grace a powerful perswasion because imitating Eloquence it clears our Spirits calms our Passions and gains our Consent It hath this advantage over Eloquence that it hath no need of our Ears to win our Hearts it transmits it self by it self into the inmost recesses of the soul findes out Reason in her Throne without employing the Senses carries Light into the Understanding and kindles Love in the Will Thus she perswades what she will to the obstinate subdues rebels without arms makes her Subjects will what she desires they should and when she displays all her forces she works the conversion of a sinner in a moment This certainly was the power Jesus Christ made use of when he laid Saint Paul flat at his feet when he converted that Persecutor into an Apostle changed his heart and his tongue and made him that breathed nothing but murder say Lord what wilt thou have me to do He lost not his Liberty for having lost his Fury he changed not his Nature for having changed his Judgement nor can we say that the perswasion that gained his consent was less free or more violent for being so sudden Grace knows how to be obeyed without making us slaves she can perswade without compelling and more powerful then Eloquence is able to make us love what we hated before That great Orator that guided the Romane Common-wealth with his Tongue and made his opinion so dexterously pass into the soul of his Auditors that gallant man I say hath wrought miracles by his Eloquence which we have much ado to allow the grace of Jesus Christ to effect He could boast that he altered the resolution of Caesar defending the cause of Ligarius that he shook the papers out of the hands and the hatred out of the heart of that Conquerour that he made him recal the sentence he had already pronounced in his soul that he overcame him by his Reasons that fubdued all by his Arms and trampled upon the pride of a Tyrant that had triumphed over the Liberty of Rome In the mean time we have much ado to believe that Grace can work miracles we weaken its Vertue to preserve our own Free-will we are not content that Jesus Christ should be as powerful as an Orator and when we hear of these victorious Graces and of these invincible perswasions we imagine as if there were a designe to oppress the publike Liberty Let us ascribe that to Grace which we grant to Eloquence let us confess that the Son of God knows how to imprint Truth in our spirit and Love in our heart to perswade us infallibly let us acknowledge that he is not to seek by what stratagems to gain our inclinations that his Grace more intimate then Concupiscence is able to become the mistress of our Wills and whatever command she exerciseth over us she never destroys our Liberty because she hath no other designe then to enfranchise it out of servitude The Seventh DISCOURSE That we may judge of the power of Grace over the Christian by that of Concupiscence over the Sinner FOrasmuch as the things of the world never appear with greater lustre then when they are set in opposition against their contraries I conceive in this Discourse I shall not do amiss to confront Concupiscence
with Grace and discover the excellency of the Remedy by the greatness of the Disease For 't is very true that a man cannot comprehend the dominion of Grace if he conceive not rightly of the tyranny of Concupiscence over the Will These two Soveraigns have so much resemblance in their contrariety that they make use of the same arms and employ the same means to execute their designes they subject men by ways altogether alike and deal with policy and power fair means and foul to make themselves mistresses For if we believe S. Augustine a man no less skilled in the state of Sin then of Grace he will acquaint us that Concupiscence is the law of the sinner acting impetuously over his Will Concupiscentia lex peccati est sequentes duxit nos postca renitentes traxi◠nos Aug. in Psal 64. applying it in all his actions so that he undertakes nothing but by the orders of this proud and domineering usurper she hath gained such a power over his Liberty that he acts onely by her impulses if he speak she moves his tongue if he looks about she ope nt his eyes if he act she manageth his hands and so absolutely commands all that belongs unto him that Concupiscence seems to inform and quicken him Though she exercise so absolute a power over his person she so well tempers sweetness with force that he never complains of his bondage he loves the Tyrant that devours him he loseth his liberty with pleasure he findes content in his vassalage and what is more unconceiveable he makes haste to a precipice and embraceth death with satisfaction whenever this cruel Soveraign commands him 'T is in effect Concupiscence that obligeth the Covetous to pass the Seas to descend into the depths and to surmount all dangers that accompany the search of riches 'T is she that engageth the Ambitious in such desperate designs where death is always mixt with glory and where a man must resolve to kill or be kill'd to purchase reputation 'T is she that imbarks the lascivious in their infamous pursuits where shame is the inseparable attendant of pleasure where a man must lose his own liberty to attain that of another and become a slave that he may be a master In the mean time if we ask all these Martyrs of Concupiscence we shall see by their answers there 's not one of them that groans under his irons that 's troubled for the loss of his honour or liberty nor makes the least attempt to break those chains that fetter him Had Tyrants but found this artifice they would raign more absolutely then Kings and making Love succeed Hatred they would be the delight of their Subjects But nothing but Concupiscence hath discovered this Secret which according Sweetness with Violence knows how to make her self belov'd and obey'd by sinners Nevertheless we must confess that Grace is as absolute over Christians and taking pattern from the proceeding of Concupiscence reigns over them with as much power as love For to express in a few words the Soveraign power of Grace we must say with S. Augustine that 't is she that makes us act that masters our Undestanding possesseth our Will Facit utvelimus bonum gratia facit ut faciamus operatu◠velle perficere praebet vires efficacissimas voluntati Aug. de Gra. Lib. arb c. 16. and is the principle of all our good works She acts with the Just as Concupiscence doth with Sinners she is the mistress of their Actions and if we believe the great Apostle 't is Grace that worketh in us to will and to do For as the Sinner loseth not his Liberty for being the slave of Concupiscence ceaseth not to act by himself though guided by another nor doth this external principle because the first mover that sets him awork exempt him from sin so the Believer is not constrained for being subject to Grace he ceaseth not to operate though moved by the holy Spirit and for having another principle of his actions then his Will fails not to merit eternal life But as Concupiscence is imperious carrying the heart by her assaults prescribing Laws which he inviolably keeps Grace produceth the same effects in the Faithful her orders are religiously observed she makes those act she enlivens and seizing upon their Wills causeth them exactly to put in execution whatever she commands S. Augustine will explain these Truths to us better then another Let us make up this Discourse with his Reasons Deus est qui operatur in nobis velle oprari non sicut isti sentiunt tantummodo Scientiam revelando ut novetimus quod faciamus sed etiam inspirando charitatem ut ea quae discenso novimus etiam diligendo faciamus Aug. and respectfully hear the learnedst Doctor of the Church Grace is not onely a Light that clears the Understanding as Faith or Doctrine doth her Charity is accompanied with Force she produceth two effects at the same time For having taught us the good she gives us power to perform it and he that knows it and does it not cannot boast that he hath received it of Grace but from the Law Therefore is it that our Lord Jesus Christ saith in S. John that he that is taught of his Father fails not to come unto him Omnis qui audivit à Patre didicit venit ad me Whence S. Augustine concludes that he that is instructed in this School always goes to Jesus Christ and he that goes not never had the Father for his Master For Grace warms the Will at the same time it enlightens the Understanding it conveys light and heat both together and working two miracles at one moment fortifies our Weakness and warms our Coldness Her manner of acting is much more excellent then that of Precept or of the Law For these two Mistresses strike onely the ears or the eyes they inform not our judgement but by the mediation of our Senses and though they enlighten the Understanding they change not the Will But Grace works by an occult power in the hearts of men producing there not onely true illuminations but good and constant resolutions And because the Pelagians always confound Doctrine with Grace to weaken her vertue S. Augustine answers them that would they christen her with that name they must represent a wonderful Doctrine that God sheds abroad internally in the soul with an ineffable sweetness which taught not onely Truth but infused Charity into its disciples He more strongly establisheth this Maxime in explaining that passage where S. Paul tells us God worketh in us to will and to do we will saith this great Doctor for we are not liveless trunks or sensless rocks but God produceth in us this will we act for we ought not to be unprofitable but God produceth in us this action according to his good pleasure we are bound to say it and to believe it 't is piety to promote it that we may with all humility
confess that all we do is rather of God then of our selves He says the same thing again speaking of Perseverance and perswades all the Faithful that their salvation ought to be founded upon their humility because God hath indued them with Graces whereby they are made acquainted with his power and their own weakness For he will not have the Saints glorifie themselves for their perseverance in good out of their own abilities but from the assistance of his Grace neither hath he given them a succour equal to that he bestowed upon the first man whereby he might have persevered if he would because foreseeing that they would not persevere had they not from him the power and the wil he hath given them both out of his pure mercy Indeed their will is so effectually warm'd by the holy Spirit that they are able to doe the good because they wil and they will it because God hath inspir'd them with a will to it For did God abandon them to themselves in this infirmity which serves as a remedy against their pride and did he give them no other assistance but that by which Adam might have persevered if he would they would stoop to the assaults of temptations in the frailty of their flesh nor would they ever persevere because the weakness of their will would not suffer them to will the good at all or to will it so strongly as to doe it Therefore God desiring to succour their misery hath given them a grace that so moves this rationall faculty that she never resists it that in her weakness she may be vigorous enough to surmount all the adversities of life But because these manners of speeches might perswade the ignorant that a grace that acts so energetically would destroy liberty Saint Augustine instructs us that her force consists in her sweetness that she works upon the will only by the pleasure she there produceth nor that she is victorious but because she is agreeable This is the second truth that remains to be proved to satisfie my promise and to manifest the last resemblance between Concupiscence and Charity Though the former be sometimes so violent that she hardly leaves the sinner any liberty to resist she never employs force to extort his consent she is not of the humour of those tyrants which make use of nothing but torments to reduce their subjects to their designs and knowing that Empires are preserv'd by the same means they are acquired endeavour to keep that by cruelty they have gotten by violence But she corrupts the wil by pleasure proposing nothing but what is delightful she dexterously mixeth smiles with frowns profit with loss glory with shame and so artificially disguiseth the objects shee presents sinners with that they complain not even in the midst of their torments 'T is shee that sweetens the laborious travels of Conquerors charms the discontents of the Covetous comforts the Lascivious in the tortures that accompany their wantonness she gilds the chaines of al lthe slaves that follow her makes them acceptable when she cannot make them glorious sowing pleasure where shee cannot sow profit nor reputation Thence it comes to passe that her Empire is so firmly established among finners that to destroy it grace must change their wils subduing the vanity of their criminall pleasures by the truth of her innocent delights For she walks in the steps of her enemy she imitates her she intends to ruine and benefiting by her wiles she never sets upon the will of a sinner but she is seconded with pleasure her chiefe Stratagem is to render vertue agreeable to take off that austerity that suffers her not to be accosted and to lay all her Stoicall morosity upon the face of sin This is it that Saint Augustine declares by those words where he exhorts a sinner to be converted Confess your selves saith he in the presence of Almighty God and you shall obtain from his bounty that the vertue which seem'd so stern will seem sweet and easie When he hath wrought this first miracle you shal finde that facil which now you apprehend as impossible you shall have as much satisfaction in justice as formerly you had in iniquity Sobriety will relish better then drunkenness you will discern more charms in Alms then in Robbery and taste a farre richer pleasure in giving your own then in taking that of your neighbour Prayer will out-vie the Pastimes of the Theatre Psalmes and Hymnes will entertain you better then amorous Sonnets or the Aires of the Court you will goe to Church more chearfully then ever you went to a Play and reflecting upon the change of your heart you will acknowledge Grace the cause thereof and that the barren ground of your soul bare no fruits but because the Lord hath been pleased to water it with the perfumes of his Divine Influences For 't is an undoubted Maxime that Good though never so excellent begins not to be desired till it begin to be pleasurable Though it have more charms then beauty more lustre then glory more invitations then profit if it convey not pleasure into the will it knows not how to beget love Pleasure is the Load-stone that draws all hearts that are capable of love 't is the poyson that distils into the heart of all sinners and the only answer they return those that condemn them They oppose nothing but pleasure against all reproaches and when truth it self accuseth them they have but one reason wherewith to defend themselves they cannot forsooth leave that they take so much delight in Indeed they would never sin did not pleasure solicit them nor would the Devil ever master their will did he not make use of pleasure to gain their consent He employs the same devices against them he did against our first Father he makes use of the flesh to gain the spirit as he dealt with the woman to seduce the man he tries by suggestion to produce pleasure in his heart that pleasure may quicken sin He knows that this Commander is too free to be compell'd but he knows also that he is too amorous to hold out if he call not in another to his aid whereby he may be defended This also is the way God deals with souls to gain them he useth not his power but his sweetness he employs not his threats but his promises and when he intends to vanquish a creature he makes not use of pain but of pleasure he combates sensual delights with spiritual ones he opposeth the charms of vertue against the allurements of sin he inspires thoughts so sweet and so powerful that they blot out all those of the Earth and knowing very well that the Will always complies with the more predominant delectation that solicits her he is content to be lik't that he may be victorious For if Concupiscence contest with Grace about the conquest of a heart she that promiseth the highest pleasure shall prevail and though never so free the Helen will be overcome by the
other happily guides us in it The one purifies our soul by Labour the other unites us to God by Prayer The one keeps the Commandments and the other receives the Recompence The one is afflicted with grief because it bewails his sins with the Penitents the other is bathed in pleasure because it participates in the felicity of the Blessed The same Doctor all whose Maximes are Truths gives us another Division of Vertues from the difference of our conditions and being not far from that Principle we are going to explain attributes but one Vertue to the Blessed and leaves all the rest to the Faithful They indeed finde all their happiness in the Supreme Good which they are in possession of their Love makes up the total of their felicity and that ineffable Union that transforms them into him they love is the onely Vertue that for ever takes them up in the fruition of Glory Prudence is not requisite because there is no darkness to be dissipated nor misfortunes to be prevented Fortitude is useless because there are no sorrows to struggle with Temperance serves to no end because all their delights are innocent and lawful Neither is there any employment for their Justice because in the Tabernacle of Glory there are neither miserable to be protected nor criminals to be punished Thus as that incomparable Doctor goes on they practise but one Vertue and by a happie encounter this Vertue is their recompence because uniting them to God it makes them finde their felicity in him 'T is true that as the Supreme Good contains all other Goods we may say also that all the Vertues are comprehended in this and their several denominations may be imposed upon it It is Prudence because it illuminates them with the brightness of God himself Fortitude because it unites them so firmly with him that nothing can separate them Temperance because it makes them chastly embrace the Chief Good and in the delights they taste of they seek not so much their Pleasure as his Glory Justice because it subjects them to their Soveraign making them finde their Happiness in their Submission But as there is some analogie between the condition of the Blessed and that of the Faithful at the same time that S. Augustine separates them he associates them again and confounding their Vertues together saith that during this life Love is the onely vertue of Christians and that there is none other but to love that which is amiable So that to facilitate the acquisition of that object we place our affections upon by chusing sutable and convenient means is Prudence Not to be discouraged or diverted by Grief is Fortitude Not to be drawn away by Pleasures is Temperance and not to be kept off by the vain pomp and grandetza's of the world is Justice He lodgeth these Vertues in Glory which he seems to have banished thence and acknowledgeth that the Blessed enjoy them as well as the Faithful but with this difference That upon the earth they are in Act in heaven in Habit upon the earth they serve for a Defence in heaven for an Ornament upon the earth in Exercise in heaven in their Acquiescence upon the earth they are the sure Land-marks guiding the Faithful to their journeys end in heaven they happily unite the Faithful in an inseparable Bond of Communion But because this Doctrine is not fully conformable to that which is commonly received and that we have borrowed from Philosophers the Division and the Quality of Vertues let us say with them that we judge of their number by our obligations and our necessities We are upon the earth for no other end but to Know and Love to Suffer and to Do our whole life is spent in these two employments and if we be not absolutely unprofitable we must raise our selves to the Knowledge and Love of the Supreme Good and resolve if we be not altogether lazie by our Courage to overcome all the difficulties which occur in the course of our life Thence it comes to pass that we have need of different Vertues Bonam vitam ego puto Deum cognoscere amare mala pati bona facere sic perseverare usque ad mortem Bern. and that according to the designes we form we are obliged sometimes to have recourse to the Divine vertues sometimes to the Moral Inasmuch as God is surrounded with Light that darkens us our Understanding must necessarily be cleared by Faith that we may know him In that he is an Infinite Good our soul must be fortified with Hope that we may search after him and our Will warmed with Charity that we may love him For though Good be amiable and the Supreme Good transcendently amiable yet is it so far above our reach that without Grace we cannot approach unto it and as we must be clarified by his Light that we may know him so must we be warmed by his Calentures that we may affectionately close with him Thus Faith Hope and Charity are the Vertues by means whereof we treat with God But because Man is born for Society in serving God he is bound to assist his Neighbour Charity hath a double respect having united us to the Supreme Good for love of it she unites us to our Like and obligeth us to love them as we do our selves Were this Vertue in its full vigour 't would be sufficient alone Lex venit in subsidium amicitiae Atistot and as Philosophers have observed that Laws would be useless did Friendship raign in mens hearts I dare affirm did Charity set up her throne in ours the Vertues would be idle among Christians or act onely by her orders and directions But whether we have not as yet attained this Perfection or that the number of Subjects contributes to the Greatness of Soveraigns she hath under her command Four Vertues which are called Cardinal that act by her motions and execute her designes Prudence clears our Understandings to act helps us to discern Good from Evil and Truth from Falshood For as there are Evils which under a fair shew deceive us and Lyes that finde more credit then some Truths Prudence must serve us for a Guide and in so important an election secure us from mistakes Justice gives every one his due makes our Interests yeeld to Reason preserves Peace in the inequality of our conditions and taking original righteousness for an example which made a harmony between foul and body this sets Man at union with himself and by a necessary consequence accommodates him with his neighbour Therefore is it that Repentance and Humility are as rivulets flowing from this Fountain and as rays issuing from this Sun For Repentance is nothing but a severe Justice that animates the sinner against himself that obliges him to act the part of a witness in accusing of a judge in condemning of an executioner in punishing himself Humility is nothing but a modest and true Justice which considering the Majestie of the Creator
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
consists in the knowledge of the Supream Good and that no man can be truly content who is not acquainted with this prime Verity from whence all the rest flow as from their Fountain Profane Philosophy says the same concerning this Maxim neither hath she any Masters or Scholars who make not this confession that as the mind is more noble then the body 't is in the operations of that not in the senses of this that Beatitude is to be sought for In the mean time Earth is the habitation of obscurity we know God but in an Enigma we have only doubts and conjectures of his Greatness and though we are fully perswaded of his Existence we are altogether ignorant of his Essence If we consult our senses they cannot inform us of his Divine perfections and having neither shape nor colour our eyes nor our ears cannot tell us notice of him If our spirit reflect upon it self and elicite some act to know its Author in knowing it self it findes that the images it produceth are but Idols or phantasms and that the apprehensions it conceives of him are only mistakes and falshoods If Faith step in to the relief of the Understanding and obliging it to renounce its proper light clarifie it with what she brings 't is with so much obscurity that it hath more merit then satisfaction in its obedience I know very well that this vertue raiseth man abstracts him from sense gives him admittance into the light of God himself neither can he complain that reasoning is denyed him being prepared for an Intelligence But certainly she pays him these advantages with usury For he believes without knowing gives his senses the lye condemns his reason and obligeth himself to die for those truths he cannot yet understand Thus man is never happy in this world and whatever certainty he have of the mysteries of our Religion he will never attain to an evidence of them From this misfortune there arrives a second which is no whit less considerable For inasmuch as the Understanding is the Gandle of the soul which enlightens the will Nolunt homiues facere quod justum est sive quia latet sive quia non delectat Aug. and this blind faculty loves things according to the rate she knows them she never fully embraceth the Supream Good because she never perfectly knows it There is something always wanting to her love and to her happiness her possession is continually imperfect nor are her desires ever without discontent whatever tast she hath of felicity it rather sets an edge upon her love then any way appeaseth it and whatever pleasure she finds in transitory and perishable goods she feels by experience they may possibly divert her but no ways content her Their scantness causeth her indigence she continually changeth objects striving to find that in one which she cannot meet with in another she is like the Bees who sip upon all flowers to tast the dew that drops from heaven and being wearied with the various turnings and windings of the world is obliged to confess that Beatitude is found no where but in God but he is neither met with nor enjoyed upon Earth I proceed and say that should he suffer himself to be seen by his creature in the condition whereto sin hath reduced him it would prove rather a ground of fear and astonishment then of love and satisfaction There is so little proportion between God and Man that the one must needs be abased or the other greatly exalted that there may be some commerce between them The Majesty of God must be clouded by some allay of condescension and mans weakness strongly heightned by some gracious endowment or certainly the presence of God which is the felicity of the Angels in Heaven would occasion the misery of man upon Earth The Scripture tells us we cannot see him and live his aspect is formidable his splendour dazles our eyes his greatness chides our curiosity neither can we behold this Sun but we are in danger of losing our life together with our sight The righteous in the Old Testament repent their seeing him and though he temper his Majesty to accommodate it to our weakness they conceive this favour must be followed with their death Deum vidimus moriemur But should his Almightiness be proportionable to our misery and this Divine Sun like that of the Poets Vbi metus est ibi nulla vera felicitas Sen. lay by his rays that we may approach it the state of Earth would not suffer his presence to make us happy For our felicity that it may be true must be constant if we are not sure to keep the good we possess the apprehension of losing it traverseth our contentment and mingles restlesness with our pleasure Fear more afflicts us then the enjoyment can delight us we resent misery in the midst of felicity and we finde our happiness of the nature of those colours of the Cameleon that perish with the object that produceth them So then there is nothing durable in the world the noblest creatures are all subject to change whatever is possest may be lost The Soul though Immortal is not Immutable she that cannot die can sin and though Grace be an emanation of Glory it hath neither its constancy nor duration it is a kinde of Miracle that God works in favour of his Elect Qui se putat stare videat ne cadat Phil. 2. when he confirms them in Grace and though he give them assurance of their salvation he exempts them not from our miseries and infirmities And this is the last Reason I intend to make use of to let you see that the Earth is not the habitation of the Blessed All those that form any Idea of Happiness acknowledge that as it comprehends all Good it ought to exclude all Evil did it not include all of one sort it would not be perfect and did it not expel all of the other it would be miserable In the mean time the Earth is the region of Poverty Goods are very scarce but Evils come in crowds He that possesseth Riches languisheth after Honour he that raigns in a Kingdom does not always bear rule in his Person and if he triumph over his Enemies he seldom triumphs over his Passions He that bathes himself in Pleasures is drowned many times in Sin and he that is upon good terms with Fortune is for the most part at oddes with Himself Thus all men are miserable because they are indigent nor does the condition of their present life suffer them to associate all good things together to compose a perfect felicity It happens also by a necessary consequence that there are a thousand Evils from which they cannot defend themselves Their souls and their bodies are equally disposed to grief these two Delinquents which forsake not one another in the Sin share in the Punishment and Earth preventing Hell torments them both for company The Body bears an enemy in the bowels of it
himself with the pleasures of the body renounceth the priviledges of the minde betrays his duty and his dignity despoils himself of the inclinations of Angels and puts on those of Beasts and without changing his shape changeth condition and nature But inasmuch as most men are led more by interest then reason and those that are the slaves of pleasure are more sensible of grief then shame and dishonour it will not be amisse in this Discourse to let them see that the pleasures after which they so eagerly run are very tragical and contrary to their intention are turn'd into punishments The Divine Justice which leaves no crime unpunished hath been pleased that diseases should be natural penances and that the Stone and the Gout should be the recompence of our debauches Seeing sensuall pleasures are commonly criminal they are for the most part irregular having shaken off the yoak of reason they cast men into excesse and perswade them that 't is a kind of injustice and base servility to prescribe Laws to their desires abused by these false sophisms they pursue their inclinations without keeping any measure in their diversions they are drown'd in delights are lost in voluptuousnesse and draining their strength and their substance fall many times into diseases and poverty Thus by a just judgement of Heaven their disorders become their torments Ipsos voluptas habet non ipsi voluptatem cujus aut inopiâ torquentur aut copiâ strangulantur miseri si deseruntur ab illa miseriores si obruantur Sence and they finde sorrow where they expected felicity If to defend themselves from this misfortune they observe some rules in their pleasures they feel another punishment For these pleasures being short their soul is always languishing they have scarce done with one but they long for another and living always in expectation or inquiry can neither be secure from restlesnesse nor discontent Those who to remedy this evil endeavour to associate pleasures undertake an impossibility For whether nature intend to punish us because we are culpable or whether Grace be not willing to expose us to danger because we are weak Pleasures hold not so good intelligence as Paines These set upon us in a full body and joyn companies to render us wretched the Stone the Gout the Colick and the Palsie conspire together to exercise our patience whatever opposition these diseases may have they agree to ruine us and we many times behold distressed spectacles who have no part of their body free from torment But Pleasures are divided Self-love with all its subtilties cannot reconcile them the Birth of one is the Death of another and experience teacheth us that we have more strength to endure Griefs then to support pleasures when these slow in upon us with full tide they stifle us when they succeed they make us droop and languish and when they recompense their shortness by their excess they reduce us to complaints and groanings From all this Discourse we may conclude that bodily pleasure is an enemy to our happiness that it removes us from God engageth us in the Creature obligeth us to partake of their imperfections and is followed with misery and indigence Therefore following the rule of Contraries we shall not have much ado to perswade our selves that Felicity may be found in Grief and that the Christian is never more happie then when he is afflicted for Christs sake For the understanding of this Paradox we must remember that all earthly goods are onely mediums whereby to gain those of heaven that which leads us the safest way thither is the best neither is the Christian ever neerer his happiness then when he is in the way that soonest leads him thither Now there is no man so little skilled in our mysteries but knows that Grief is the surest and the speediest way to arrive at heaven Cohaeredes autē Christi si tamen compatimur ut simul conglorificemur Rom. 8. Si sustinemus conregnabimus 2 Tim. 2. 't is the path Christ hath marked out with his Blood that whereby he entered into his Greatness that which all the Martyrs have gone and the Scripture teacheth us in a hundred places that Glory is dispensed according to the measure of Sorrow that they that have suffered most upon earth shall be the happiest in heaven One of the most remarkable differences between Christian Grace and Original Righteousness is that this guided man to his happiness thorow a way strewed with roses and lilies the means were proportioned to the end and seemed as an Antepast or Earnest thereof He arrived to Glory by Honour to Pleasure by Delights to Plenty by Riches He had reigned over Beasts before he raigned with Angels he had passed from one Paradise to another and had been happie upon Earth before he had been so in Heaven But now Providence hath changed its conduct over men and whether it have a minde to chastis their Rebellion or to wean them from the World or to make them conformable to their Head it leads them by difficult ways thorow paths rugged with thorns and environed with precipices The means it indulgeth to bring them to their end are contrary to it and to make its proceeding admired they are guided to Life thorow the valley of Death to Liberty thorow Servitude to Light thorow Darkness to Pleasure thorow Pain All the Morality of a Christian propoundeth nothing but Crosses its Vertues are austere its Counsels difficult its Commands harsh and had it not found the means to sweeten all these anxities by Charity it would reduce the Faithful to despair For it obligeth them to hate Themselves and to love their Enemies orders them to forsake their Riches and their Parents Fides non habet meritum ubi humana ratio praebet experimentum Greg. to believe without knowledge obey without discerning love without interest pardon without resentment live without pleasure and die without regret All the Maximes of their Master confirm this Truth for he prefers the Poor before the Rich declares the Afflicted happie canonizeth them that suffer and promiseth his Kingdom to them that weep he practised what he taught his whole life was spent in labours or affronts he was born in a Stable died upon a Cross lost his Honour with his Life nor did his Father glorifie him till his Enemies had loaded him with reproaches and sorrows All his Apostles followed his steps they preached his doctrine with the hazard of their lives signed it with their blood sealed it with their death rendered up their souls among torments nor is there any torture the cruelty of men hath not invented to weary their Patience and trample upon their Courage All his faithful disciples seek for Grief in the Rest of the Church they finde Persecution in Penance are their own executioners and their whole life is an imitation of Martyrdom they provide for the Prison by Solitude dispose themselves for Banishment by removing from their Country prevent