Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost thou wert signed with the Sign of the Cross in token that thou shouldest not be asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified but manfully fight under his Banner against Sin the World the Flesh and the Devil and continue Christ's faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy life's end Consider that being come to Understanding thou art brought to take thy Baptismal Vow upon thy self in Confirmation whereby the Soul is fortified to fight the inward Battles of this Life and to bear the Cross Consider that at the receiving the Sacrament if thou dost it worthily thou renewest the same Vow and that the Benefits of Christ's Death cannot be convey'd to thee therein but by believing and working according to thy belief What is all this but to teach us that our Faith ought to be lively and that believing and doing must go together in a Christian For if thou wantest a hand to work thou wilt also want a hand to lay hold of Christ's Merits and to apply them to thy Soul Beg therefore of God that he would give thee a true a vital and an active Faith for by that means thou mayest have a sure and a certain Hope and an ardent Charity since they that believe well hope well and they that hope well love well He that works as he believes and believes as Christ commands him hopes in the same proportion that he believes If thou hopest as thou believest and believest as thou oughtest and lovest in the same manner as thou hopest Heaven and Glory are surely thine thou hast already conquer'd Hell The Devils flie already from thee The Angels are already with thee The Saints already bear thee Company Thou art already under the Protection of thy Blessed Saviour and art already sealed by him for an Heir predestinated to his Glory Pray therefore earnestly to God for a lively Faith and then thou shalt have certain Hope and fervent Charity The Root of that most beautiful Tree is Faith the green Leaves and fair Flowers of it are Hope and the sweet savoury Fruit is Charity This Tree of true Wisdom is the Tree of Eternal Life which cures the Wounds of the Tree of Death and of Knowledge Pant and gasp after the Fruit of this Spiritual Tree which is Divine Charity If thou feelest that if thou possessest that thou art already grown up and hast profited considerably in the Spiritual Life If thou feelest the love of God in thee and that thy heart be warmed with one spark thereof rejoyce and be of good courage for thou art already near the top of Calvary which is the Mount of Christian Perfection The day that God gives a Soul the feeling of his Love and an eager hearty desire to serve and to please him he draws it near to him and unites it to himself nay he already gives it a Pledge that living always so he may safely hope never to be parted from him Hast thou Divine Charity and dost thou feel the love of God within thee Thou wilt cast away Humane Passions and Imperfections and having banished that which is imperfect that which is perfect will continue and increase in thee Hast thou Divine Charity and dost thou feel the love of God Darkness will speedily flie away and an holy perfect Light will enlighten thee O Divine Charity how great is thy Power how great is thy Worth What is it that thou canst not do Thou art more Omnipotent in a manner than Omnipotency itself Thou madest the Son of God to leave the Bosom of his Omnipotent Father to seek a Mother to become Man and to die on the Cross for Man In the doing all which acts of excessive Kindness Omnipotency was as it were the Servant of Divine Charity since those things could not have been done if Omnipotency had not obey'd the infinite Love of God in performing what his Charity ordained If thou lovest God then I reckon thee safe on shore Persevere go on with joy and chearfulness and all will be easie sweet and pleasant to thee The Love of God facilitates the Exercises of a Spiritual Life and makes them sweet though in themselves they be bitter The Love of God chears the Soul and resists great Storms of Temptations Afflictions and Tribulations and keeps a Conscience pure holy prompt and lively The Love of God gives more pleasure in Suffering than Pleasure itself does in the enjoying The Love of God gives Light and drives away Darkness from the heart and as Night and Day cannot consist together so neither can Divine Charity and Sin The Love of God gives Strength and Perseverance in what is good and Valour and Constancy to oppose what is evil The Love of God roots out Passions Hatred and Revenge from the heart and introduces Pity Goodness and Mercy with the other excellent Vertues Finally the Love of God quickens defends comforts strengthens enlightens and perfects the Heart and Soul and so long as thou keepest it there it brings all under Subjection and Obedience to Reason It is strong sweet and powerful loving constant couragious and chearful it contains in it all that is good and casts out whatsoever is evil Exercise thy self then in Love if thou desirest the Lord should Crown thee If thou hast a mind to profit employ thy heart in loving Day and Night Love the Lord who in his Eternal purpose loved thee before there was Day or Night Let every return of thy breath breathe out the Love of this Lord so that thy respiration and thy love to him may he equally constant in thee THE THIRD PART OF THE Spiritual Year IN September October November December SEPTEMBER The First WEEK Of the Vertue of Religion and of the manner of Governing the Cardinal and Moral Vertues by that of Religion AN ardent Love a lively Faith and a constant Hope will bring thee to another most sweet and noble Vertue called Religion or the inward and outward Worship of God which is that that creates and promotes all the other Vertues and goes alway intermingled with Prayer In this thou oughtest to Exercise thy self with very great Humility All thy Conversation should be with God of God and for God Enter thy self into his Service by Faith adore him with Reverence and love all that appertains to him There is no need for thee to go up into Heaven to seek this Lord since for that purpose even Earth is Heaven and all Heaven is to be found in this narrow place of our Banishment Thou oughtest also to bear great Reverence to the Houses of God and to Sacred Persons for these are the Ministers of God and do represent God and those are Holy places consecrated and appointed for his outward Worship If thou dost live thus with Reverence and Fear and dost exercise the Vertue of Religion with Love which is the height of all Perfection thou shalt walk on in Spirit in Truth and in Prayer and shalt in the
should have said Although I do believe yet I fear my Incredulity and therefore O Lord I fain would believe with an higher Faith and with a more firm Assurance The Faith then which that Man desir'd over and above that which he had already is that Fruit which is here spoken of by St. Paul Consider that Faith for the want of which our Lord reproached St. Peter when he leaped out of the Ship into the Sea to go to adore him and feared and sunk and begged help whereupon the Lord stretching out his hand to succour him said Why art thou fearful O man of little Faith That Faith which our Saviour found wanting in St. Peter although he had so high a Faith as to throw himself into the Sea is this Fruit of the Spirit That Faith which gave him the boldness to leap into the Sea was great and that Faith which he had in crying out to the Lord for help was that Faith which we call the Theological Vertue but that which he wanted yet and which our Saviour found wanting in him was this high Gift of Faith Consider that Faith with which the same St. Peter being with St. John in the Porch of the Temple which was called Beautiful after the Passion of our Lord said unto the lame Man that begged an Alms of him Silver and Gold have I none but that which I have I give thee In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk and he cured him in such a manner that it seemed as if St. Peter had taken Strength and Faith as Money out of his Purse Now this Soveraign Gift of believing that God can and that God will work such a Miracle and that it will succeed according to his Faith is the Gift which St. Paul here speaks of Consider that Faith of the Centurion and that of the Canaanitish Woman which the Lord so highly commended that Faith is this Fruit of the Divine Spirit That Faith whereby the Gospel was propagated which the Lord gave to his Apostles after he had confirmed them in Grace and which was necessary to conquer the Gentile-World and which in less than an hundred years enlightened all the World so that those Trophies of Faith were seen and heard and felt in all places and the Echo of them resounded into all Countries that Faith which we might explain and set forth by many other Examples St. Paul here calls the Fruit of the Spirit but after Christ had formed and established his Church he hath very seldom given this kind of Faith unless unto some few that have led a very Spiritual Life and have often conquered the Flesh by the Spirit and have held the Inferiour part of Nature so subdued by Grace that God hath been pleased to bestow this high Gift of Grace upon them for the Service of his Church in some extraordinary occasion Some others will have this Faith and Fruit of the Spirit here mentioned to be an high Gift of believing the Truths of God and his Promises Behold that which the Blessed Virgin had in believing the Soveraign Mystery of the Incarnation of her Son and that profound Humility wherewith she captivated her own Understanding and her Will unto the Power of God Behold that Faith wherewith the Prophets believed and declared such Heavenly Mysteries long before they came to pass Behold that belief of Faith which the Lord found wanting in Moses and Aaron at the Waters of Strife in the Desart for which they were condemned never to enter into the Land of Canaan Behold that Faith which the Holy Angel Gabriel wanted in the Holy Priest Zachariah when he declared to him that the Baptist should be born of an Ancient Mother and struck him dumb because he believed not Behold that Faith which the three Children had in Babylon when they told the Tyrant that though he should cast them into the fiery Furnace or into the Den of Lions yet the Lord their God would deliver them nay and though he should nor deliver them yet would not they quit their Faith nor cease to believe in that same God which was a most excellent and discreet Answer Now this Fruit proceeded from the Spirit which governed those Holy Souls and others that have been favoured and adorned with this Heroical degree of Faith There be some also that say that this Gift or Fruit of the Holy Spirit is the Gift of Fidelity to keep Faith and Promise to our Neighbours Though this be holy profitable and necessary for if the due regard of this Vertue fall to the ground all Peace and Truth in Correspondency between Man and Man falls with it yet for all that I am of Opinion that this Holy Fruit is no other but that Supernatural Gift first mentioned and that whosoever has that shall have all the rest for they depend upon its Power and Vertue And therefore do thou act with Diligence and Constancy Pray continually with Fervency and love thy Redeemer ardently and tenderly for to those who do these things God grants this Fruit and excellent Gift of the Spirit Of Continence Continence which is the Sixth Fruit of the Spirit though it seem to be the Antidote of that Vice which is forbidden in the Seventh Commandment yet I do not believe that in this place it signifies the Fruit of Chastity for St. Paul puts that expresly for the last of the Twelve and it is not probable that he would offer us the same Fruit twice for that would be an imperfect repetition and cannot suit with the Wisdom of that Spirit which guided his holy Pen and so my Opinion is that in this place by Continence is meant an Universal Girdle or Wall that encompasses the honest Appetite on every side to the end that it may not go beyond the due compass allowed nor break forth to any thing prohibited but that it may preserve guide and promote the Fruit of the Holy Spirit Continence is a Gift and a general Vertue whereby whatsoever is loose and destructive whatsoever is opposite or repugnant to the Divine Spirit is restrained It is a Bridle to the Appetite and the Bit that curbs it and brings it so under subjection as to make it go right It is the Mother of the Spirit and that which most nourishes and advances the Vertues thereof making it to become great and heroical This Gift of Continence begets Mortification in all things subdues the Flesh and makes it yield to Reason It also begets self-denial whereby a Spiritual Man rejects his own Will and delivers himself up to be disposed by the Will of God It begets that Heroical Humility whereby he brings down Pride and flies from his own Excellency to prostrate himself before the Excellency of God This Girdle of Continence which St. Paul here speaks of that which the Lord bids us to gird our Loins withall against his coming to Judgment for being begirt therewith and having our Lamps burning in our hand we shall be admitted unto
in receiving Honours And this which seems to be a very hard Law is so sweet an one that though St. Paul contents himself here with an Equality yet some Saints as we see in the Examples that have been given pass on further and express more Joy in Sufferings than in Comforts though these come from God and those from the hands of Men. As we may believe that the Divine Goodness of our Lord took more delight in Redeeming Mankind upon the Cross than in the Glories of his Transfiguration upon Mount Tabor though upon Mount Tabor those Favours came from the hands of his Father and upon Mount Calvary his Sufferings came from the hands of Men. So likewise those who suffer for God the Holy Apostles and all those that now follow or have followed them rejoyce more in Pains and Tribulations which God sends them by the hands of Men than in those Favours and Comforts which they receive immediately from God himself Therefore our Saviour said to his Disciples at his going to his last Supper when he was beginning to enter upon his Holy Passion With a great desire have I desir'd to eat this Passover with you but he said no such thing to them when he went to the Glories of Mount Tabor In imitation of this we read of one that for a favour begged of Christ to be crowned with Thorns another to bear the marks of his Wounds with a lively feeling of his dolorous Passion One Devout Soul begs Lord if I may obtain my desire grant that I may be despised for thy sake Another meditating on Christ crucified Lord I desire nothing but thy self and to be crucified with thee This in my Opinion was an high and wise Petition because he asked to suffer with Christ in this life as Christ in this life had suffered for him and then presently to have Christ himself for a Reward in the Life Eternal for he that begs for Christ crucified to be made his it is clear he does not beg for a Glorious Christ but wounded bloody and in the anguish of his Passion and so he asked not the Crown of Thorns alone nor the five Wounds alone but also what he suffer'd in the scourgings at the Pillar Not only the Mockeries the Buffetings and the pains of his Passion but the Slanders Affronts and Persecutions which he suffered before it And not those alone but whatsoever he suffered from his Blessed Mother's Womb and the Manger till he expir'd upon the Cross This we ought to ask and imitate in this life and to advance thereby in Grace and Patience and thereby thou shalt see how certain it is that such Holy Devout Persons not only do possess that equality of Patience wherewith St. Paul Arms his Spiritual Man in receiving Affronts and Crosses with as chearful a Countenance as the Pleasures of this World but that their Delight is greater and their Patience more chearful in suffering than their Joy is in rejoycing The Second WEEK Of the Ninth and Tenth Fruits of the Holy Spirit Goodness and Meekness THese two Fruits of the Spirit which God gives to those that are exercised in the Spiritual Life are as the Cause and the Effect for in truth Goodness is the Mother of Meekness And as some Fruits by reason of their great fecundity grow one within another and as an Ear of Corn produces many Grains so Goodness produces Gentleness Meekness and Affability repeated again and again in all its words and actions And we must take notice that this Goodness which St. Paul names here for a Fruit of the Spirit is not barely that Vertue which is the first cause of Grace that is to say a disposition to receive and to hold it by the Soul 's being free from the guilt of any great sin for that is a Fruit of the Divine Goodness and Mercy which gave the Soul light and strength to cast out sin rather than a Fruit of the Spirit But the Goodness here meant is in my Opinion an high Gift of Grace and Favour which God grants to holy Souls after they have serv'd him long in the Spiritual Life whereby the Soul is cleansed and purified not only from greater sins but even from lesser nay even the least Passions and by taking away those Barks as it were and inward Rinds of our Nature lays it bare and naked from those folds and doublings of imperfect Habits leaving the Soul in so great a purity truth and sincerity that St. Paul calls it perfect Goodness It is as if God should make an Old Man to become a New Man or as if an old decayed and broken House should by his Power not only be repaired and strengthened and made up again in the same proportion grace and Beauty it had at first but also be brought to a greater perfection and enriched with more costly Ornaments And though it still leaves in him the incitement and provocation to sin for that never ceases nor does Grace take it away yet it is as much weakened and disabled as Reason was in it before This Goodness and Sincerity the Lord found in holy Job and to give him an high Praise indeed he said He was single and upright God by his Grace had taken from him all those folds and doublings which we have in our Souls those corners and hollow places where Malice uses to dwell He had cast out all Imperfections from thence and had filled it with his Lights and Vertues making him a Mirrour of his high Perfections This Goodness and Sincerity is that which Christ desir'd to find in his Disciples when they were contending who should be the greatest and he Discoursing upon it took a Child and laying his Holy Hands upon the Head of that little Angel said unto them Unless ye become as this little Child ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Some Authors say this Child was St. Ignatius afterwards Bishop of Antioch and Martyr who was one of the most Holy Disciples that the Apostles had and from that touch of Christ's hand he became so much in love with him that he took for his Motto Amor meus crucifixus est For his only Love was Christ crucified and at his Martyrdom this holy Man defied the Lions that were to tear him in pieces and said to them I am the Wheat of Christ and I shall be ground by your teeth that I may be worthy to be made the Bread of that Lord. This Digression I have made to quicken the Faith of Clergy-men for if Christ but by touching him made him to become so holy how holy ought we to be who not only touch the Bread of the Lord but the Bread which is the Lord and do so often Consecrate and Receive it Two things God requir'd of the Apostles in imitation of that Child first Humility for since they were proudly striving who should have the highest place he could not set before them a fitter Example than that Age and that Humility Do ye
is the Author of them and invisible Thou seest the frame of Nature contriv'd in a wonderful manner and beholdest innumerable Creatures of all kinds some having but Being others Being and Life a third sort Being Life and Motion a fourth Being Life Motion and Sense a fifth Being Life Motion Sense and Reason and from hence thou art able to infer that there must be a Creator of them since nothing can make itself and so proceeding through the whole Chain of Causes thou comest at last to one first Cause of all things which is eternal self-existent and independent and to him thy understanding bids thee ascribe infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness all which Attributes were most illustriously displayed in the Creation of the Universe And further as by the light of this Principle thou art able to discover the Being of God so by the same thou art enabled to comprehend thy Duty to Adore Reverence Worship Serve and Obey him Thou knowest thou couldst be made for nothing but for his Service and that his having made thee gives him a most indisputable Right to thy Obedience and Homage thou knowest the difference between Good and Evil and apprehendest not only what is pleasant or unpleasant to the Senses which is the utmost degree of Knowledge that the brute Creatures arrive at but also what is honest or dishonest just or unjust morally good or morally evil and art sensible of thy Obligations to prosecute the one and avoid the other and from hence it is that thy Conscience that internal Witness and Judge seldom fails to excuse and comfort thee when thou dost thy Duty or to accuse and torment thee with uneasie thoughts when thou committest Sin Further this unvaluable Benefit qualifies thee for Society and Government Blessings not known or enjoy'd by the lower rank of Creatures which are unsociable and incapable of Discipline or Order and capacitates thee for that which we deservedly account a most desirable happiness the Conversation of thy Friends and of those of thine own kind without which thou wouldst be disconsolate and miserable O inexpressible Benefit of thy bountiful Maker deserving thy most intense meditation and the service of thy whole life What return canst thou make to God for this singular Gift What requital worthy of so vast a Favour Has God made thee an Understanding Creature and given thee a Capacity to comprehend not only Natural Objects contain'd in this low Sphere of matter but also things supernatural above the reach of sense Let it then be thy principal care to endeavour after an improvement of this Noble Faculty to employ it about things that are suitable to its Dignity but above all to know God and his Son Jesus Christ which is Eternal Life Consider how it imports thee to acquire a due knowledge of those Holy and Divine Truths which God hath been pleased to manifest concerning himself and whatever escapes thee suffer not thy self to be ignorant or unskill'd in those Sacred Oracles which contain the will of God to be performed by thee if thou desirest to partake of his Glorious Promises or ever to enter into his beatifick Presence 'T is the Gift of God that thy Nature is enriched with this high Ornament and Perfection and therefore use it to his Glory and have a constant regard to his Honour in the employment of it Let thy whole aim bet to magnifie God thereby and have a care of dishonouring him by his own Gift which he gave thee for thy benefit but to be used in his Service In a word seek all occasions to shew thy thankfulness for it to celebrate the goodness of thy Divine Benefactor and to shew forth his Praise by applying it constantly to the glorification of his great and venerable Name But besides this Faculty of Understanding thou hast yet others which are no less excellent and sublime for which thou art equally obliged and indebted to thy liberal Creator He has given thee Memory that Store-house of Science and common Receptacle of all things that are apprehended by the Understanding an Endowment most eminently useful and beneficial to thee To this thou committest as to a Guardian or Register whatever thy Judgment or Imagination presents drawing it forth again and remanding it back when occasion requires In this thou treasurest up the Images of things and lodgest innumerable Idea's vastly different from each other the most disagreeable Objects being therein reconcil'd and joyn'd together without the least jarring or discord confusion or disorder and which is most wonderful by how much the greater the multitude of the Objects is that are fastened there by so much the more space there remains for others and by how much the more thou endeavourest to croud and to fill it so much the more it will still hold it being capable of an infinite extension From the assistance of this Faculty thou derivest many great and considerable Advantages Thou art enabled thereby to reflect upon thy past Actions and Follies in order to amend them for the future to represent things absent and gone as present before thee to descant upon the Mercies of God which have been formerly extended to thee and upon thine own Ingratitude in making him no other return for them but disobedience and sin and remembring how vile thy Practices have been by this means thou mayest conceive an hatred and detestation of them and be brought to Repentance Finally by the help of this Gift thou mayest recollect the principal passages of thy Life and recal to mind what thou hast done amiss which is the first step to Contrition and Amendment Since therefore God hath vouchsafed to endue thee with so admirable a Perfection and to plant in thy Soul so useful and excellent a Faculty strive to embellish and adorn it with suitable Objects and consider how thou art obliged above all things to remember thy Creator and to lay up his Word within thy heart Remember him who gave thee Memory and bear in mind thy great Engagement to him for this Benefit Be careful to treasure up his precious and saving Truths nor let his Goodness and Bounty to thee be ever forgotten 'T is a most unnatural Ingratitude not to remember him whose Gift it is that thou remembrest any thing else and to let him slip out of thy memory who took care to furnish thee with that Noble Treasury for the Entertainment of himself and of things that are agreeable to thy Nature Nor are these all the Advantages which thou enjoyest from God's having given thee a reasonable Soul thou hast still something of equal Worth and Excellency with the former Endowments deserving thy Thankfulness and Acknowledgment Thou hast a Will uncapable of constraint or force which above all other Possessions is most properly thine own in thine own power and not subject to any external violence Thy Understanding may be taken from thee by several Accidents and Diseases and thou mayest be depriv'd of thy Memory by sundry Mischances but
other AVGVST The First WEEK Of the Baptism and Preaching of our Lord with his Doctrine Miracles and Parables NOW I will shew thee the Original of which thou oughtest to be a Copy and the Looking-glass wherein thou oughtest to dress thy self I mean the Actions of our Lord which hitherto have been unspeakable Mysteries but now besides being Mysteries they begin to be Advertisements Instructions Lights Counsels and Informations of the Spiritual Life Behold how after Eighteen Years of Silence and Obedience our Saviour at the Age of Thirty begins to teach and direct Souls A rare and admirable Example teaching us that we ought to restrain our selves and not be too hasty in getting up into Offices and Preferments but to fear them and to learn first that we may be afterwards able to teach since he did so who had no need of learning and who was Wisdom itself that came to teach us Do thou love Obedience Patience and Silence and if thou wouldst learn to Teach and Govern learn first to Obey and to hold thy peace Behold how that Lamb of God goes to the River Jordan to seek his Holy Fore-runner John the Baptist who pointed out the Saviour of Souls with his finger bearing Witness that it was He who came to take away the sins of the World See how presently going into the Water to be baptized he was not so much washed himself as he purified and cleansed the Waters with his Innocency and Holiness and by them our sins leaving us the Universal Remedy of Baptism the Gate of the Church the ineffable Seal and mysterious Character of Humane Redemption and of Christian Vocation Behold how the Father acknowledges his beloved Son in whom he declares himself well pleased Behold the Holy Ghost also appears upon him in the visible form of a Dove the whole Trinity co-operating in the Institution of that Holy Sacrament Pray to him to restore unto thee that Robe of Grace which he gave thee in thy Baptism and which thou hast lost by thy many sins Beg of him to renew it by his Vertues and amongst the rest by the chiefest which is final Perseverance Consider what Thanks thou owest unto this Lord for having caused thee to be born where thou hadst the benefit of this blessed Sacrament and wert made capable of those Heavenly Blessings which by it are brought into thy Soul Behold in the next place how our Lord goes to the Desart to Fast forty days that he might consecrate Fasting to us by his Abstinence and the labours and difficulties of a Spiritual Life by being tempted If the Eternal Son of God who is Goodness and Innocency itself did Fast have not I need to do so being meer Wickedness Excess and Incontinency If the Eternal Son of God being the Creator of all things suffered himself to be tempted by our common Enemy the Devil why should thou and I who are vile Worms of the Earth think it much to suffer Temptations and Tribulations since our Misery and Wickedness for the most part give nourishment to those very Temptations and that we very often run into them by tempting our selves See how he conquers both the Tempter and the Temptation the one by his Abstinence and the other by his Humility and Patience choosing those two Vertues for an Universal Remedy of all the Diseases of the Soul Humble thy self therefore and be confounded in the knowledge of thy Misery and when thou art tempted since Christ himself was so do thou imitate him in a firm and resolute Resistance patiently relying upon his strength who with the Temptation will make a way for thee to escape and will deliver thee when thou callest upon him Behold now how he chooses his Apostles the first Pillars of the Christian Religion and the chief Masters of the Spiritual Life beginning with two poor Fisher-men who having spent all the Night toyling in vain and caught nothing taught us Obedience by their readily letting down the Nets again at his Command which was well rewarded by the Miraculous draught of Fish with which they themselves were caught and were from that time made fishers of Men. These he increased to the number of Twelve most of them being of that mean Profession whose Poverty and Ignorance he chose to confound Humane Wisdom and Greatness that to neither of them but to his Grace alone might be acknowledged the conquering and confounding of the most presumptuous Power Knowledge and Vanity of this World Therefore love Poverty and believe that the Kingdom of God cannot consist with Riches and Greatness unless they be mingled with Humility Mark how he begins his holy Preaching with that Divine Sermon in the Mount the Matter whereof has been the Subject of all Sermons ever since Read it often till thou hast fixed it in thy Memory and have it always before the eyes of thy Mind to follow it in thy Practise Let the Prayer he teaches there be the Pattern of all thy Prayers In the three first Petitions whereof thou mayest learn thy Duty towards God to Sanctifie his Name to resign thy self to his Will in all things and to love him above thy Life in longing for his Kingdom which thou canst not enter into but by Death Learn in the other three thy Duty towards thy Neighbour in loving him as thy self since by using the Plural Number thou beggest all those Blessings for others which thou desirest for thy self and askest to be forgiven thy Offences towards God no otherwise than as thou thy self forgivest those that are done unto thee by Men And since the doing good to all and the forgiving all Injuries is the greatest perfection of Christianity and the thing wherein we most resemble our Blessed Saviour be sure amongst all those excellent Lessons of that Divine Sermon to make that one of doing to others whatsoever thou wouldst have them do to thee the continual Rule of all thy Actions for that will make thee to love and to do good unto all because thou wouldst have all to love and to do good unto thee and it will make thee forgive the greatest Injuries that any Enemy can do unto thee because thou wouldst have no body to take Revenge for those they receive from thee When the Holy Jesus had ended his Sermon on the Mount that Divine Repository of the most excellent Truths containing a Breviary of all those Precepts which make up and perfect the Morality of the Christian Religion he descended into the Valleys to consign his Doctrine by the power of Miracles which were next to Infinite and which it is remarkable he chose to instance in actions of Mercy that all his Powers might especially determine upon Bounty and Charity and at the same time be invincible Arguments of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine Almost all the Miraculous Works he did during his Natural Life were actions of Relief and Mercy that he might at once both do good to Men and also demonstrate his Mission from
God which indeed was the principal design of all his Miracles which being so infinitely and apparently above the power of Nature could not but create great confidence in his Disciples that himself would verifie those great Promises upon which he established his Law nor fail to make a very deep impression upon all Persons whose interest and love of the World did not destroy the Piety of their Wills and put their Understandings into Fetters So marvellous was the force of Conviction by these supernatural Operations that to minds unbiass'd and honestly dispos'd to receive the truth it was hardly resistible Who could chuse but be wrought upon to confess his Divinity from the sight of that first Miracle which he wrought after his descent from the Mount upon the poor leprous Person which came to him worshipping him and begging to be healed He did but barely put forth his hand and touch him and immediately his Leprosie was cleansed What so great Vertue could possibly proceed from Natural Agents or from whence could so sudden and effectual a Remedy come but from that Great and Heavenly Physician who is Lord of Nature and consequently has no need to use Physical means but by a word of his mouth can accomplish whatever he pleases both in Heaven and Earth He bad the Man go to the Priest to offer an Oblation according to the Rites of Moses his Law hereby teaching what Respect and Obedience we owe to the Laws of that Religion which is duly established For in all the wonderful Works which he wrought for the healing Men's Bodies he had this further design to heal their Minds too by insinuating good Instructions He was a Physician of Souls as well as of Bodies and always had an eye to the Spiritual benefit of Men by contributing to their bodily ease This Observation holds in all those Corporal Cures which he wrought for the outward good of Men by that Divine Power which God had anointed him with As his Miracles were intended for Mercy so also for Doctrine The Impotent and Diseased Persons were not more cured than we instructed which will appear if we cast an eye upon some of his Miraculous Cures Behold him then in the next place giving sight to the Blind to one who besides his blindness was also possess'd with a dumb Devil which being cast out he presently spake and saw to another by anointing his Eyes with Clay and Spittle which one would think were more likely to have blinded him if he could have seen and even to one that was born blind without any natural capacity of receiving sight which more increased the Wonder of the Multitude all confessing That since the beginning of the World it was never known that any one had received sight who was born blind And do not these Examples teach us to admire his Goodness and his Power which working both with means and without means nay and against means too may convince us of his being God as well as Man How should we be excited by this excessive Bounty of our Lord to beg of him to enlighten the blindness of our Understandings which is far greater and worse than the blindness of those Men and to give us such a clear sight of Heavenly things as may make us look upon all the Greatness the Riches and the Pleasures of this World only with Contempt and Pity that we may plainly perceive the Path that leads to eternal Happiness and avoid all those stumbling-blocks which are laid in the way O thou that openedst the Eyes of the Blind suffer not the thick Mists of Ignorance to obscure and darken my mind and so hinder it from seeing and knowing in my day the things which belong to my Peace that they may never be hid from me See in another place a Noble Personage coming to Jesus with much Reverence and desiring him with great importunity to come to his House and cure his Son being now ready to dye Jesus who did not do his Miracles by Natural Operations cured the Child at a distance and dismissed the Prince telling him his Son lived which he found to be true and that he recovered at that time when Jesus spake those salutary and healing words Whereupon he and all his House became Disciples and were throughly convinced of his being the true Messiah and that Salvation was only through him which effect the Miracle did naturally tend to produce Behold at another time how soundly he sleeps in the midst of a most violent Tempest which so affrighted his Disciples that they hastily awoke him saying Lord save us we perish Thus quietly do they rest in the midst of dangers which trust in God and so are they dismayed with fears who dare not repose an entire confidence in him Imitate thou his Disciples in having recourse to Prayer in all thy distresses but rely upon God with assurance of his help Observe how their distrust was check'd with a Why are ye fearful O ye of little Faith Yet his Mercy granted their Request for he presently rebuked the Winds and the Seas and their was a great Calm In like manner O Lord compose the storms of my troubled Breast appease the boisterous Winds of my unruly Passions and the rolling Billows of my exorbitant and unsteady Desires Say unto them as thou didst unto the Sea Peace and be still so shall I safely pass through the Tempestuous Waves of this miserable World with a calm and contented mind till I arrive at the Haven of endless Rest and Comfort in thy Kingdom Nor does he only quiet the Sea but walks upon the Waters of it which seem'd so strange to his Disciples that they took him for a Spirit St. Peter having his Master still in his thoughts that he might be certain calls out If it be Thou command me to come to thee Observe the strength of his Love which makes him desirous to be with Jesus in any place how dangerous soever and yet the weakness of his Fear which presently causes his Faith to fail though he had an Omnipotent hand ready to help him His heart first sinks in his Body and then his Body sinks in the Water Learn then to follow Christ by imitating the Vertues which he practised as Man his Patience Meekness Humility and Charity and do not affect to do those things which he performed as God It is enough for us to undergo Dangers when Providence shall bring them upon us and too much to run our selves into them unnecessarily for that is to tempt God by a vain Presumption the Punishment whereof is to be left to our selves and most probably to perish in our own rashness Let us next accompany our Saviour to the Marriage in Cana and indeed there it was that he wrought his first Miracle where to rescue the married Pair who were poor and wanted Wine from Affront and Trouble he commanded the Water-pots to be filled with Water which by his Divine Power he changed into Wine where the
me but either in thy self or others thou givest that to the Creatures which thou owest to me He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad If thou dost not work for me because thou wilt not thou deniest me thy Will and if it be because thou dost not remember it thou deniest me the Memory which thou owest me He cannot be freed from the blame of Ingratitude to his Benefactor that forgets the Benefit but the greater Forgetfulness seems the greater Ingratitude Upon this it is they ground themselves who say that every indifferent Action which is not applyed to God is evil and imperfect that there is nothing indifferent that in the sight of God's Justice whatsoever is not good is bad that every action of Man must be in the Service either of God or of Belial and that there are no more than two hands the Right and the Left whether the sin be great or small Let Doctors discourse of this in Universities and let them decide it in the Schools but let us go the safe way Every Morning Offer to God all thy Works and Thoughts Endeavour to preserve the Actions of thy Life innocent Offer them to God every Year every Month every Week every Day and if it be possible every Moment All thou dost all thou thinkest all thou willest and desirest let it be applied to his Service and in the mean while give the Doctors leave to Dispute in the Schools This inward Offering alone makes that which is Indifferent to become good and that which is good to be perfect If with the Opinion of some there be Indifferent Actions by this application of them to God they become good and if there be none it will give an Efficacy to that which else would be unprofitable and Sanctifie that which else would be evil and imperfect Observe what Advantages the Vertue of Religion brings along with it and the benefit of a Christian's taking care to apply all his Thoughts Words and Actions to God looking upon God in all he does and working for God in all he undertakes Thou oughtest to exercise all thy Vertues both Cardinal and Moral with this consideration and with this aim and if thou canst not with an actual yet do it at least with an habitual Intention for by this means thou wilt make those Vertues to be true and solid which without this holy Attention and Intention will be no more than seeming ones The Second WEEK Of the three first of the Cardinal Vertues Prudence Justice Fortitude and first of Prudence PRudence is that Verture which directs the manner of Humane Society if it be through God and for God it is truly Prudence for by him it finds fit and convenient Means and holily Guides by a good Way unto a good End The Prudence that is of God and through God is Divine Prudence which designs all for God and never fails of its aim because it is guided by the Rules and Directions of God This holy Prudence leads the Intention and the Heart and adorns every Action with excellent Circumstances Avoid and cast off from thee the false and crafty Prudence of the World which is full of its deceits and subtilties Banish from thy sincere Heart that falsly-call'd Prudence made up of Lyes and Jugglings which gounding its designs upon falshood most commonly perishes when it comes to contest with that which is true and certain I have always found that Truth gets Victory over Lies I have always seen Sincerity fool the Tricks and Cheats of Craftiness I have always seen the Prudence of God triumph over that of the World and if it happen otherwise sometimes that lasts but for a while for in the end Truth and Honesty are Victorious Wouldst thou be prudent Work sincerely speak always the Truth take care in whatsoever thou doest for God not to offend his holy Laws keep the Rules to which thy State and Profession oblige thee Let thy Intentions be single and thy Actions ordered according to Reason and believe me thou shalt be God's prudent Man without so many turnings and windings as ill Men entangle themselves in without so much Pains and Anxiety as it costeth them and without so many Tricks Dissimulations Plots and Policies as the Imprudent prudent Men of this World beat their Brains in contriving Wouldst thou be Wise and Prudent so that no body may deceive thee but that rather if they attempt it they shall be deceived themselves and ruined thee without thy Fault Then be careful to keep Gods Commandments live with an holy Plainness and Sincerity and ever speak the Truth Art thou a Christian Obey the Laws of Christ Art thou a Clergy-man Keep the Canonical Rules Art thou a Bishop Be careful of thy Diocess Art thou a Lay-man Keep the honest Laws of the Laity Art thou a Subject Be Loyal to thy Prince Art thou a Magistrate Put the Laws in Execution for who does thus is Prudent Wise and Discreet and can neither be deceived nor deceive others Deceit lasts not long Truth and Sincerity defend themselves but Doubleness and Fashood have need of Friends to defend them A right Intention makes an Action to be Right and Prudent And if at any time it be requisite for the good Prudence to dissemble and be silent it knows how to dissemble and be silent yet without feigning lying or deceiving The good Prudence has so heedful a Discretion in all Actions that what the false one does with great Labour it performs with Facility It examines and disposes the means sweetly and orderly unto their End and having chosen an holy End makes use of good and discreet means for the attaining of it On the contrary as the Ends of the World 's Wise Men are foul so likewise their means are foul and vain The Prudent Men of the World use to be more subtle in their ways says our Saviour but not more constant nor more effectual These ill Politicians may perhaps stand for a while and maintain themselves in their crooked Designs but at the last they must fall at the feet of Prudence and of Christian Policy Of Justice and of Good and Evil Judges Justice also has need of the Vertue of Religion that is to have an Eye to God in all things and without that it can hardly be able to take one right step nor can it well be said that there is such a thing as Justice For that being the Director of all Humane Actions to what is fit and honest and the Reducer of all that is created unto those Rules how can there be any Justice where there is no regard had to the true holy and just Law of the Eternal Creator What Justice can there be where Humane Understanding does not square its Discourse and Judgment according to that true and eternal Justice All the Wrath all the Injuries all the Wickedness and all the Injustice of the Creatures proceeds from their departing from that